Destiny Bond I: Aura Sphere
by EarthBorn0
Summary: The Late Sinnoh region - Dawn's grand festival nears as well as Ash's Sinnoh league. Surprisingly, May turns up and a series of arbitrary events causes a powerful bond to grow stronger. AAMayL, Advanceshipping, AshxMay.
1. Reunion Plans

_Destiny Bond (Advanceshipping, PG)_

Hello all!

This will happen to be my first Pokemon Fanfiction. It's set in the late Sinnoh region and Advanceshippy.

Reviews are welcome, of course.

* * *

Obligatory Disclaimer:

I do not own Pokemon or any related intellectual property. This Fiction is in no way associated with Nintendo.

* * *

Here's the Age breakdown on the Main Characters:

Ash : Nearly 15 years old

(1 year Indigo League + 1 year Johto + 3 Months Orange Islands + 2 years Hoenn and Battle Frontier and 8 months Sinnoh)

May: Nearly 13 years old

(2 years Hoenn and Battle Frontier + 8 Months in Johto for the Grand Festival)

Dawn: 10 years and 8 months old

(8 months Sinnoh)

Brock: Nearly 22 years old.

* * *

Chapter 1: Reunion Plans

It was snowing violently in Snowpoint City, but after all; this wasn't described as the world's coldest region for nothing.

The Sinnoh region, located far north of the Kanto-Johto landmass, was a cold, though admittedly, it was a rather beautiful place.

The southern and eastern parts of the continent were nice, warm and comfortable. Of course, they were nowhere near the warmth of the sub-tropical climate of Hoenn which was located _below _the Kanto-Johto landmass.

Right now, however, we find our trio at the Snowpoint City Pokemon Center, cosily protected from the frigid weather outside, rejoicing at the victory of a familiar Pokemon Trainer on having earned his seventh Sinnoh League Badge.

The Battle with the Snowpoint Gym Leader; Candice, was not easy – as is expected of a Gym Battle. However, our hero pulled through (with a little bit of luck and quick thinking, naturally) and managed to secure the Icicle Badge.

'We finally got our seventh badge, Pikachu!' came the voice of the boy with messy jet-black hair, covered partially by a hat. His features were not overly handsome in the classical sense, though his dark brown eyes portrayed the welcoming warmth of friendship and compassion.

He had a well-built, muscular body, symbolic of his one and true passion: Pokemon.

He held the blue Icicle Badge in the palm of his hand triumphantly. His two very good friends, and of course his very best friend, the yellow, mouse-like Electric Pokemon – Pikachu were excited at the thought of his needing only one more badge to obtain entry into the Sinnoh League.

'So Ash – are you ready to win your last Badge?' asked the oldest of the Group. The Pokemon Breeder was fairly tall, at least compared to his fellow traveling buddies. He had brownish skin with matching spiky black hair. You could never tell whether his eyes were open or shut.

'Sure I am, Brock! Right Pikachu?' Ash replied enthusiastically.

'Pika!' exclaimed the mouse.

'Don't forget though; I still have to get to the Grand Festival in Pastoria City!' interrupted the youngest of the group. She was a beginning Pokemon Coordinator, but was quite good at it. Her slim body was complemented by her blue eyes and blueish hair. She often wore a fluffy white hat on her head: Sinnoh _was _cold, after all.

'We haven't forgotten that Dawn.' Brock answered, smiling slightly.

'Yeah, next stop: Pastoria City!' Ash said. He looked out of the window and his expression dimmed, slightly; 'Of course, we can't go a_nywhere_ if it keeps snowing like this.' he commented.

'I just hope it stops soon, though the forecast says it'll take two more days.' Dawn replied.

'Don't worry Dawn, we'll get there, I promise." said Ash. He soon left to the Pokemon Center's general hall, explaining that he was going to have a check on the Egg he had got from the mysterious traveler they had met on their journey.

Dawn looked reassured. You can always count on Ash Ketchum to cheer you up, no matter what the situation. Ash was, after all, like the older brother that she never had, and she knew that Ash felt the same way.

Downstairs, in the Reception Hall, Ash Ketchum approached the Center's Nurse Joy.

He was really excited about the egg. After all, who wouldn't be? He had only ever got two eggs in his travels before; The First one in the Kanto Region, which soon hatched into the Pokemon Togepi.

However, due to the fact that the first person Togepi saw was Misty, it became hers. Ash _was _a little disappointed of course, but as time passed, he didn't mind it at all. After all, he knew better than to get on Misty's bad side, and she was his friend – right? And Togepi left her eventually, though reluctantly, in the end.

The second egg he had obtained, hatched into a Phanpy, an adorable, small and blue elephant which possessed a good amount of power. He picked it up from the Professor's lab for the Battle Frontier quest, or rather, Phanpy came to him, to be a part of his team again, evolving into a Donphan during his Battle Frontier Quest.

But it, and most of his Pokemon, were all back at Professor Oak's lab and he missed them. He missed his friends to, although all of them were out fulfilling their dreams, and that fact made him happy; Misty was a Water Pokemon gym leader, Tracey was with Professor Oak – someone whom he really idolized, Max was in Petalburgh City right now, finishing school (he was devastated that he couldn't collect his first Pokemon on his 10th Birthday – he had totally forgotten that he needed to make up for all the school he had missed), and of course May-

'Ash?' asked the Center's Nurse Joy, giving him her trademark smile.

'What is it, Nurse Joy?' Ash asked her, spinning him away from his thoughts.

'There's a message for you from someone called May, from the Olivine City Pokemon Center in the Johto region.' Joy told him.

'May?' Ash repeated, not all that surprised. His friends were sure to keep in touch with him – after all they _were_ his friends. May was just more in touch than Misty or Tracey – simply because she kept continually asking him for advice – he didn't mind that of course, their conversations often resulted in the development of battle strategies, beneficial to both of them; but it gave him the impression that she was ina real hurry to get her five ribbons. He never understood why she was being so hasty - she would then need to wait quite a while longer for the annual Johto Grand Festival.

Ash brushed those thoughts aside, it was her problem wasn't it? He thanked Nurse Joy for the information and strolled over to the videophones. A few pressed keys later, May's smiling image flickered on to the screen. It was just a video message – not a normal phone call. This was surprising as May always used to call and talk – she was the chatty-type after all.

She looked the same as ever – although the videophone concealed the entirety of her figure. On her head laid a neatly tied red bandanna with a pokeball symbol on the side. She had shining blue eyes that, coupled with a small smile and a fair face, seemed to give her a cheerful aura.

'Hi Guys!' said May's image, still smiling for some reason. Clearly, she was addressing all of them, not just Ash or Brock.

'I've finally got my fifth Johto Ribbon!' she continued. So _that_ was the reason why she was so happy. The shiny gold ribbon managed to catch a brief glimpse of her phone's camera, courtesy of her gloved hand.

'It's been a little tough without all your support, but I've finally made it through. The Grand Festival isn't till four months, so I haven't got much to do here.' She paused for a little while.

'I'm on my way to meet up with all of you in Sinnoh!' May's image exclaimed.

'Since Ash told me that you all are going to go to the Grand Festival in Sinnoh, I'm going directly to Pastoria City;' She paused for breath 'Can't wait to show you my new Pokemon. I'll be at Port Pastoria in three days.'

'Bye!' She finished.

Ash put the phone down.

'Did ya' hear that Pikachu?' Ash asked his yellow friend.

'Pika! Pikachu!' It exclaimed. Pikachu sure sounded happy.

'Great then, let's go tell Brock and Dawn.'

- - -

'WOW, I GET TO MEET MAY??' Dawn literally shouted, hopping around the room with excitement.

'That was something unexpected.' Brock agreed, 'I wonder why May was so eager to come though, but I guess she's feeling a little lonely in Johto and all.'

_I do wonder whether there is more to this than meets the eye. _Brock thought briefly.

'Well, you don't really get lonely when you face a challenge, especially with your rivals; But I think that you _would_ feel lonely not meeting your friends for a long time.' Ash said.

'I _so hope _that I get to battle her; It'll be good practice for both of our Grand Festivals!' Dawn said, still bouncing with excitement.

'I'm sure you will Dawn.' said Ash. 'Still we need to wait for the snow to stop if we're ever going to get out of here.' He gave a small sigh and turned to the window, which was now completely white and completely opaque.

- - -

_Two Days Later..._

'All Passengers, we have arrived at Pastoria City. Please be sure to check yo Luggage before leaving. We hope you enjoyed your journey.' The Captain of the ship announced on the ship's Public Address System.

'We're here you guys!' Dawn exclaimed. Now her thoughts were focused on the Grand Festival.

'Yeah, let's go find the site of the Grand Festival.' Brock suggested.

The trio (and Pikachu of course) began walking down the road, with Ash holding his Egg tightly.

They encountered a bifurcation in the road, there was a hastily painted sign, pointing to the right; to a dirt road. The sign read 'Way to Grand Festival'.

The trio instinctively turned towards the dirt path. A few minutes of walking later, the eerie silence made them a little uncomfortable.

'Are you sure we're going the right way?' Dawn asked, looking a little apprehensive.

'Sure, the sign said that the path leads to the Grand Festival didn't it?' Ash replied, although he was feeling a little out of place as well.

Suddenly, without warning, the ground gave away. Ash struggled to retain his balance – he still had the egg with him – he couldn't afford to let it fall. After a lot of muscle strain, he successfully managed not to fall in the trap – although Brock and Dawn weren't so lucky.

The Egg, however, had slipped from his hand and the blue-black pattern gave the impression that it was rolling like a black marble over a blue floor.

Ash tried to run for the egg, but first, he turned to look at Dawn and Brock, who had just managed to get on their feet after a copious struggle. They were all right. He positioned himself correctly and made a run for the egg, but he found that his path was blocked by an all-too-familiar Meowth hot-air balloon...

* * *

So...there you have it. I actually write Sci-fi, and this is my first time writing Pokemon and Romance.  
I had actually outlined the plot for the sequel of this Fic. Turns out that I figured I have to give a decent explaination about how Ash and May get together. 


	2. An Aural Inauguration

Thank You for your comments everyone, I'm feeling a lot better :D.

j.c.k.tm and LucifierIX: So you guys think it's a rilou, huh? Why don't you read and find out :)

Luna The Glaceon: Well at least there someone else who knows how it feels, although it's fun to write this one too.

* * *

Chapter 2 – An Aural Inauguration 

Ash was irritated. His ears picked up the sound of Pikachu's quick feet as they scurried up the pitfall.

As the Balloon gained altitude, he struggled up, and shouted, for what he felt the millionth time:

'Team Rocket! GIVE ME BACK THE EGG!'

Again, for what seemed like the millionth time, the owners of the balloon – A self-confident (but not at all successful) trio of 'thieves' gave their response.

As usual, their first response was with their infamous Team Rocket Motto © .

"Listen, Is that a voice I hear?" -came the voice of Jessie, the dominating, hyper tempered leader of the Trio and self-proclaimed actress, among many other things.

She had a apricot-shaped face with red, gravity-defying hair. Apparently it was embossed in a bucket of hair gel.

"It seems to me loud and clear." -said James, the manly gent of the group. With vivid green eyes and an attractive shade of blue hair, he was a fanatic bottle-cap collector; with, quite literally, a very rich childhood.

Team Rocket's alternating sequence continued...

"On the wind."

"Past the Stars."

"In your ears!" -now comes Meowth. Team Rocket's Meowth. The Pokemon 'mastermind' of the trio, he had a sad, lonely history, which led him to learn human speech. He knew that he was unique by being able to communicate perfectly without telepathy to humans. Sometimes, he doubled-up as an interpreter.

"Taking the Twerp's egg at a breakneck pace!"

"Hatching it soon, and making dough in it's place"

"A rose, by any other name's just as sweet."

"When every thing is worse, our work is complete!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Meowth's da names!"

"Putting the do-gooders in their place."

"Team Rocket" - "We're in your face!"

"Waabuffet!" said Wobbuffet; an annoying (to Jessie at least, although it was an indispensable part of the team) and a weird blue pokemon, appearing to have eyes on it's tail.

With their motto complete, they could now talk like normal human beings: rather more like criminal human beings - Unsuccessful ones at that.

'Hah! Get the egg back yourself Twerp!' Jessie sneered.

'You'll have a tough time taking the egg from our SuperBalloon Mark V' James added, subconsciously twinging his fingers.

'Pikachu, Thunderbolt!' Ash commanded, as the rodent complied by promptly electrifying the Balloon.

The only problem was – it didn't work. The electrical force dispersed instantly.

'Da thing's specialized to be resistant ta all kinds of attacks – apart from da fighting type – which ya don' have.' Meowth commented, pressing buttons in quick succession on the remote. 'Ya' should know dat by now, Twerp.' he added.

An expendable robotic arm lowered itself and established a firm grip of Ash's Pikachu – lifting it upwards to prevent any escape. After that, a net was launched from the base of the balloon. It was carefully aimed at Ash and it spread around him, causing him to be immobilized.

'We're actually going to win this time' James exclaimed, doing a kind of celebration dance with his Mime Jr. who flawlessly copied his steps.

The Balloon was now gaining altitude and the gap between it and Ash was widening.

Out of nowhere, a blur of orange-red-fiery something appeared into Ash's field of vision. In but one sweep, it slashed at Ash, who, now immobile with shock was instantly freed from the ropes.

He did manage to catch a fleeting glimpse of the figure as it took off for the balloon.

It was humanoid, but tall; Covered with red and fiery colored feathers . It had jet black eyes and a mouth-like beak. Heat radiated from it's body with furious intensity. Unmistakably it was -

'Blaziken, Sky Uppercut!'

There was that sugary voice. The same one he had heard over the videophone. Right now, it had a mixture of anger and forcefulness attributed to it – the same can be said, at least for now, about the person from whom the voice originated.

May, along with Brock and Dawn, walked into view. Before any reaction from either side (Ash and the others), there took place a reaction from a _third_ side – the side of Team Rocket and their balloon. The mechanical arms released their forceful grasp, causing two objects – one living and one soon-to-be-living to immediately follow the laws of gravity.

Pikachu fell, right on top of May's head, causing the later to nearly lose her balance. Ash had finally awoken from what he felt like suspended animation and managed to catch hold of the egg.

Instinctively, the now-quartet looked up to see and hear Team Rocket scream 'We're Blasting off again!' - their standard exit sentence.

Well, at least _that _fiasco was over.

The quartet – and Pikachu – gave a short sigh. The silence was cut by May, who went over to Ash (who was still sitting on the ground due to the momentum of catching the egg) and helped him get up.

May's figure was now visible. The same red bandanna with the red outfit and yellow fanny pack; the hourglass-shaped body and those deep sapphire-blue eyes, all in place.

Grinning, she said, 'Well I've got to settle the score don't I?'

Ash and Brock gave each other a glance. A moment later they both burst out laughing – Pikachu joined in too.

'Am I missing something?' Dawn inquired. Being comparatively new to the group, she was oblivious to the fact, at least in practicality, about how Ash had saved May through some tight spots countless times.

It seems that May finally returned the favor for once.

'Forget it.' Ash said, brushing the dust off his trousers.

'Anyhow, I believe that a few introductions are in order. May, Dawn?' Brock said

'We already know each other from the phone, but hi.' said Dawn, smiling extending her arm. May took it and returned the gesture.

'We better get going, or we'll be late.' Brock suggested.

The quartet started walking back to the port, planing to reroute their path after asking for directions.

On the way, May explained how she managed to find them: Her ship arrived a mere fifteen minutes after their, and she was trying to catch up to them.

She had found the same old detour sign that Team Rocket had placed to mislead our trio, but had correctly deduced (especially since the paint was of low quality and was peeling..) that it would have been a trap. She ran to warn them and the rest was now history.

'Well May, you certainly showed an unusual amount of brains today.' Ash teased her, earning himself a small whack on the head.

- - -

Pastoria City was the site of the annual Sinnoh Grand Festival – the tournament where Pokemon Coordinators from the Sinnoh region and beyond came to compete and meet their match in a series of appeals and contest battles.

The Festival campus was massive – around half the size of a regional Pokemon League campus. Grand Festivals had way fewer participants that Leagues – around a fourth to give an estimate. This was because there was only one winner in every contest, or two in every tag-contest. Further, due to there being a monthly schedule of contests from selected locations, there were merely 200 or so participants total in a Festival, including those who were making a comeback after years of winning the ribbons of the respective region.

This way, theoretically, the chances of becoming the region's Top Coordinator was greater than winning a regional League Championship. Of course, it was not so. Every single participant in the Festival had won five ribbon over many other coordinators who had participated: this proved that every challenge in the Festival was going to be a lot tougher than the last.

May and Dawn, both great coordinators - understood this perfectly. As with any trainer, there was no room for overconfidence (a lesson which Ash had learned and relearned when he battled Prima and Drake – members of the Elite Four.)

Our group stood in awe admiring the design of Pastoria Stadium. It had the shape of a perfect ellipse, smooth to every last degree. The vivid multi coloration made it appear as if the stadium possessed a magical aura of beauty and symmetry; two things highly valued in the fine art of Pokemon Coordinating.

'Alright Sinnoh Ribbon Cup, you're MINE!' said Dawn, with a renewed determination as she started on a short spring to the campus's Pokemon Center for registration.

'Dawn, wait up!' Ash said, as the quartet broke out on a brisk sprint.

_'Feels weird to be watching a Festival Performance rather than being in it.'_ May thought, while still running.

Having arrived, there, Dawn quickly registered and received her Festival ID and room allotment. The Grand Festival would hold it's appeal preliminaries tomorrow – and she needed to work on those; one last time.

Before she could go, she saw a familiar someone; A girl with flaming red hair, a matching dress and deep red eyes.

'Hey Zoey!' Dawn called out.

The girl smiled and walked over.

'Hi Dawn. So you made it huh?' she asked. 'By the way, who's your new friend?' continued Zoey, gesturing at May.

May and Zoey exchanged hellos and, it seemed, they immediately became friends. May recounted to Zoey about how she came to be in Sinnoh right now and about her co-ordinating career. Zoey politely acknowledged her and was impressed about the brunette's achievements.

_'She's a lot nicer than Harley – and even Drew, at first. Dawn's lucky to have someone like this for a rival' _she thought. It was true of course; with all the humiliation that she had suffered from Harley (who had suffered many losses from May in turn too), she had a prejudice about rivals which was cleared away when she met Tyson – Ash's rival who went on to win the Hoenn League championship.

On another count, Ash was sitting on the couch, cleaning the egg; slowly and gently. He later gave it to Nurse Joy and was delighted when she said it was likely to hatch in just a few hours.

Brock was delighted too, but that was for a...different reason (who knows what kinda fantasies he comes up with?). His 'delight' was cut short by the appearance of a blue, toad-like pokemon with yellow cheeks– Croagunk. It raised a violet-glowing paw which was injected into Brock's abdomen – causing Brock himself to turn a shade of violet and was later dragged away.

- - -

The Sky was alight with fireworks that night. Brock, Dawn, Zoey, and Dawn's other rival; Kenny; were at Pastoria Stadium for the opening ceremony.

Ash wasn't there, though he wanted to be. He was, in fact, tending to the egg that was in the process of hatching. May was there too. She said she'd rather witness the hatching of a new Pokemon than watch the Festival opening (especially if it was her best friend's one too)– feeling a little out of place as she wasn't competing anyway (and that she would be witnessing her own Festival opening soon enough).

Brock and Dawn understood that, of course, and went off on their way.

So meanwhile, the egg was lying on a table and was glowing in a radiant white light. Ash and May simultaneously bent over to get a closer look.

The glow stopped. Immediately, both Ash as well as May (although not Nurse Joy – she was quite a distance away, observing the monitors), felt a mystical, tingling sensation warmly escalating throughout their body.

It was unique: their entire nervous system felt like it was getting flooded with a wave of indomitable energy of a vibrant nature. Ash vaguely recognized it, but couldn't remember when it took place.

Anyhow, the feeling was only momentary as the baby pokemon opened it eyes: Deep red eyes with a large pupil.

The Pokemon's anatomy was largely humanoid. It had the body of a fighter; paws meant to strike and legs meant to kick. The body was completely blue complete with foxlike ears : save for the legs and the eye portions (like a mask), which was black.

It had a black projections on either sides of the head. Somehow, they seemed to be radiating a strange frequency.

The Pokemon's deep red eyes locked with Ash's. For a moment's gap, there seemed to be a distortion of intense energy transversing between them. It stopped almost immediately, and Ash was sure that it must have been imaginary.

The Pokemon then delightfully said it's own name: 'Riolu!'

* * *

Hmm..I think I've messed up the middle portion a little. Sorry if the reunion wasn't what you were expecting: The focus of this chapter was the egg. Advanceshipping will have a slow development but I'll be dropping hints along the way... 


	3. Hydrostatics

Next Chappie... It's been a little hard to write. It seems that the PG rating won't apply till a bit later.

* * *

Chapter 3: Round one – Hydrostatics

'It's so cute!' May squealed. Although that was her standard paraphrase at anything remotely cute, Riolu was quite adorable. Really. Pikachu, (who was sitting on Ash's shoulder as usual), cooed his approval of May's comment.

'Congratulations Ash.' said Nurse Joy, smiling in the Joy way. 'Riolu are extremely rare – you're lucky that you got one. It is said that those who witness the hatching of a Riolu share a powerful bond of Aura.'

May blushed slightly at this, although it wasn't all that clearly visible. Ash shrugged, and pulled out his Sinnoh Pokedex. May peered over to get a good look at it, as she had never seen a Sinnoh Dex before.

The cool, computerized voice of Dextina read out Riolu's description:

_Riolu, the Emanation Pokemon. The aura that emanates from its body intensifies to alert others if it is afraid or sad. _

The newborn was curiously looking around, trying to familiarize himself with the new world he was in. He a curious expression on his face; maybe that was how his personality was going to turnout, or maybe it was just the curiosity that a baby's world has. Anyhow, it was surely a happy expression – and it felt happy to be around a happy Riolu: the emanating Aura makes you feel so.

The Pokedex had more to say:

_Riolu's body is lithe yet powerful. It can crest three mountains and cross two canyons in one night. _

'What a cool Pokemon.' Ash said, enthusiastically. 'Wait there's more,' he continued, scanning his Pokedex, 'It says that Riolu evolve into Lucario.'

'Yes that's right.' Nurse Joy replied, 'That's why Riolu are so rare.'

'Come on May, let's introduce Riolu to the others!' Ash said excitedly, grabbing her hand had pulling her out of the Pokemon Center. He (and May) immediately felt that same sensation of infinite energy running through them the moment they made contact. This time, it persisted for just a little while longer.

'Thanks Nurse Joy!' Ash said to the joyful Joy when he, Pikachu and May arrived at the door, almost as an afterthought.

The duo found themselves at the Pokemon Center garden. The night was amicable, the air had the odor of burnt Phosphorous: apparently, the inauguration ceremony was over. It was sad that they had missed those awesome fireworks, although you don't get to witness a Riolu hatching everyday now, do you?

Striding over to open space, Ash threw his four pokeballs, which released his Pokemon from their pure energy state to their matter equivalence. His Sinnoh lineup was quite impressive and he was proud of that fact.

His Pokemon stood in line. The right-most one had the appearance of a purple monkey, with two tails, each with a fist attached to the end. Ambipom had been with Ash before he came to Sinnoh – though it had evolved quite recently in the battle against Candice.

Next came an intimidating bird with black and white color alterations on his body. Staravia was the first Pokemon Ash had captured in the Sinnoh region. Back then, it had been a tiny little Starly.

A shrub-like pokemon was standing next. This Grotle was the fastest of it's kind – impressing every Gym Leader that he had fought under his trainer's guidance.

On the far left, there was a sea creature with beady black eyes and a blue-white body. Shellos was a water Pokemon which Ash had rescued during the course of his journey.

Riolu was greeted and treated hospitably by his new friends and partners who welcomed the newcomer into Ash's pokegang. Those who hadn't seen May before were also given her introduction: and seemed to like her almost instantly.

Brock and Dawn didn't take long to come along; Both were pleasantly surprised at the newborn Riolu – no one was expecting this. They could somehow tell that Riolu had accepted them; his Aura emanations were his form of expression, and they could feel how he felt.

Suddenly, there was a strange – yet familiar – churning, squeaky noise from the vicinity. It was followed by yet another sound of the same kind.

'We haven't eaten yet.' Ash and May growled at the same time, creating a ripple of laughter throughout the group, which included Ash's Pokemon.

- - -

'Welcome everyone, to this year's Sinnoh Grand Festival!' exclaimed Marian, the Sinnoh contest MC. A roar of applause could be heard from the audience - eager to watch jaw-dropping appeals from some of the world's best coordinators.

Our quartet wasn't in the stands yet however: Ash, May, Brock and Pikachu had gone backstage to give Dawn their final best wishes before the appeals started.

Dawn was nervous – as can be expected, yet she had not allowed this nervousness to overcome her self-confidence. Her friends were constantly giving her advice:

'It's just another contest Dawn.' Brock soothed her.

'You're gonna be fine. Just focus on the appeals: Nothing else matters right now.' May advised; She (May, that is) had already been in two Grand Festivals (and so she had experience), with the third which was coming soon enough.

'Pika!' Pikachu said encouragingly.

'You can do it Dawn! We'll be cheering.' Ash said, raising his hand. Dawn give him a hi-fi and took off to the coordinators' waiting room, with a word of thanks to all of them.

All in the stands we now we find May, Ash and Brock (in that order) sitting cheering for Dawn. Pikachu and Riolu, who was let out for a bit of real-world experience, were beside the railings cheering on.

Marian had introduced the judges: Three Nurse Joys, Mr. Contesta and Mr. Sukizo.

'In accordance to the Sinnoh Contest Association rules, the appeal is to be done using a combination of attacks from two Pokemon.' Marian announced.

'Let's heat things up with our first participant: Zoey from Sunnyshore City!' she announced.

The redhead gracefully glided to the stage and revealed her appeal Pokemon: A Shellos, like Ash's, only pink in color; which indicated that it was from the Western Sinnoh region.

Accompanying it was a Grey cat with a very springy tail: her Glameow.

'Shellos use water pulse! Glameow, combine it with Sucker Punch!'

The pokemon complied. Shellos built up a kind of aqua fountain out of water pulse, growing higher and higher. At it's peak, Glameow used Sucker Punch and the attack promptly turned the fountain into a small wave that spread out it all directions, making an incredible prism effect; before eventually dissipating.

'Great, now do it in reverse!'

This time, Glameow lit the arena with the intensity of it's sucker punch. The Water Pulse attack from Shellos drowned the whole arena with water, save for just a small part at the center, which was glowing with a mystical light. The effect was quite dazzling.

The crowd and the judges were impressed after such an original performance. The rated Zoey's appeal a neat ninety-two out of hundred.

'That was a really good appeal.' said May thoughtfully. 'Ya' know, her style is almost like Drew's when we were in the Hoenn Festival.'

'Zoey's good May, but I like your appeals better.' Ash said absently, his eyes never leaving the arena where the next performer (Kenny) had showed an awesome combination of Bubblebeam and Psychic,

earning him a score of eighty-seven out of hundred.

'It's Dawn you got to watch out for. She'll be a tough rival for you.' Ash told May, now looking over to where Riolu and Pikachu were; the railing.

'She's taken a lot of training from her Mom, who's a Grand Festival winner by the way.' Ash added.

'I've taken a lot of training from someone who has won the Battle Frontier and managed to _save the world_ a couple of times.' May said quietly into Ash's ear, who gave a slight blush.

'Riolu seems to be enjoying himself.' Brock commented, pulling Ash and May's attention away to the soon-to-be Lucario, who was gazing with a lot of interest at the Arena. Apparently, it was ready to jump right in, but thankfully, this didn't happen as Pikachu was restraining him. Ash, whose interest was sparked again, remembered something that Paul had told him: He took out his Sinnoh Dex and checked the attacks which Riolu could perform.

Seeing the list of attacks, his face lit up as if he'd just been informed that he was having three birthdays this year.

_'I gotta go and train Riolu after Dawn's appeal.'_ He thought.

Dawn's turn came out soon enough. Her nervousness didn't show on stage, where it was encapsulated by fiery determination. She was wearing her pink contest dress and ran over to the arena with great enthusiasm.

'Pachirisu, Buizel: Spotlight!' said Dawn, releasing her cute electric Squirrel and her sea otter in a shower of sparks and bubbles, courtesy of the ball capsules.

'Water and Electricity, this should be interesting.' Brock said.

'Buizel, use Water Gun! Pachirisu, use Spark!' Dawn commanded.

The otter pokemon unleashed a beautifully symmetrical jet of water, and the electric squirrel send out a spiraling channel of electricity. The effect was unique; Pachirisu could control the current so that Buizel would not be affected and maintain a kind of yellow radiance from the jet of water.

'Now Buizel, jump and spin!' Dawn ordered.

Buizel complied, jumping high into the air and spinning gracefully, carefully aiming it's water jet at the ground. Buizel managed to stay airborne due to the force of his water jet.

'My, what a wonderful sight! Buizel is spinning beautifully against the force of gravity, propelled by it's own water jet!' Marian commented.

'Alright Pachirisu, how about a Thunderbolt!' Dawn instructed.

Pachirisu electric field began to grow...and grow. The field had now engulfed the entire arena, and approached the critical point when it broke off into a million shimmers of packets of energy.

The water jet spiraled around a final time and Buizel made a perfect landing on stage. Dawn and her pokemon bowed before the audience, while her friends cheered on.

'Excellent Performance. The way you managed to strike a balance between your usage of electricity and water was wonderful.' Mr. Contesta remarked.

'Remarkable!' said Mr. Sukizo, his well-known catchphrase.

With the Nurse Joys giving their positive remarks, Dawn's score was a neat eighty-nine out of hundred.

'Great Appeal. You've got some tough competition May.' Ash said, a bit more seriously this time. He stood up from his seat, going to get Riolu. He handed over Pikachu to May (it wanted to stay and watch the appeals), who said, 'Someone needs to give me some training.'

'Riolu vs. your new Johto Pokemon. Today, I promise.' Ash said smiling, taking Riolu with him on his way to the exit.

Ash and Riolu managed to find the exit, and soon came out of the adrenaline-filled Festival Stadium. But, Team Rocket are never behind and soon enough, and extensible robotic arm appeared into sight, going directly for Riolu.

'Listen, Is that a voi-' Jessie began, but she was cut short.

Riolu had unexpectedly dodged the arm as if the arm was a Slowpoke trying to do a tackle attack.

'How dare You!' Jessie said, mad with rage. 'You didn't even let us complete the motto!'

'Waaabuffet!' said Wobbuffet.

'Try this, ya' blue blob!' said Meowth, pressing buttons on his controller with furious intensity and speed.

The Robotic Arm repeatedly tried to grab the baby pokemon, but remained unsuccessful.

'Riolu, Force Palm!' Ash commanded.

This order was almost unnecessary as Riolu seemed to have sensed his master's thoughts.

He raised his hand, with his paws wide open. Radiants of a yellowish color began to gather at the center of the palm. With one a single stroke, the robotic arm broke into a thousand pieces. Another blow, this time at Team Rocket's balloon, and the next second they were vanishing into a distant part of the sky, blasting off once again.

'T-that was totally _cool!_' Ash said, still in awe at Riolu's amazing skill and speed.

* * *

It's a little tricky not to get too much Dawn focus into the fic, and at the same time maintain a flow of advanceshippy hints. I've tried anyway, tell me what you think.

Now, I know that the update pace isn't quite good, but that's because I've got a nasty thing called exams coming up, and they're occupying a large chunk of my time. Counting in Bioshock, my Keyboard (no, not the ones you type on) and stuff, it takes away a hell lot more. Keep reviewing and motivating me :)


	4. Polarity Practice

I hear that Oxford has removed the hyphen from common speech. The same will apply here. (Never mind that I use an American English spell check. )

Thanks for all the reviews so far!

- - -

Chapter 4: Polarity Practice

'Brock's super special, coming up!' said Brock, who was busily maneuvering the ingredients in the right places in the outdoor mini-kitchen of the quartet's assigned Grand Festival residence.

Ash was spending this time narrating the Team Rocket vs. Riolu incident to the two girls, right after he was told delightful news about Dawn's qualification to the next Festival round.  
The Pokemon were already savoring a meal of Brock's mouthwatering (even for the fire types), poke-cuisine. The breeder was already busy in preparing a meal for the human members of the group – two of them didn't like waiting for food, but decided that Brock's maxim of 'Pokemon First' (apart from attractive Ladies that is), would have to be accepted for now.

After all, the double celebration of Dawn's beautifully choreographed appeal as well as Ash's fantastically brilliant Riolu was one which deserved a particularly delicious gourmet. Brock had promised this one right after Riolu hatched – and now, he had to make it even better; seeing as Dawn had managed to attain a commendable score in the Festival appeals. But that didn't matter to him, he _loved _to cook.  
Anyhow, the food was ready before long. Our human members attacked it as soon as it touched the table – even Dawn was a little hungry this time.

While the group was in the stage of devouring their dessert, May politely reminded Ash about his battle promise.  
Ash, immediately fired up for the battle, replied in the affirmative.

Ash called for Riolu from the ensemble of the quartet's pokemon. However, this proved to be unnecessary as the Aura Pokemon had sensed his master's thoughts and was by his side the next instant.  
'Did you enjoy your dinner Riolu?' Brock asked, coming over to referee the match, while Dawn came skipping along too (There's no way I can miss this!).  
Riolu nodded politely at the Breeder, who looked pleased due to that fact that he could somehow tell that Riolu really _did _enjoy it: as if it had directly beamed it's emotions to Brock.

All the Pokemon had formed an irregular circle, so that they could see the battle. This was kinda like a boxing arena of sorts, where the Pokemon proved to be the boundary line for the battle field. Brock stood directly at the centerline of the irregular field, although on the edge of it's boundary.  
Ash and May, with Riolu and a cute green Pokemon which had a large yellow flower on top.

"_Skiploom, the Cottonweed Pokemon._" came the voice of Dextina, originating from Ash's Sinnoh Dex. "_It blooms when the weather warms. It floats in the sky to soak up as much sunlight as possible._"

'Watch out Ash, my Skiploom is _way_ stronger than it looks.' May said, gazing directly into the latter's chocolate eyes. A synergy of energy once again sparked between them, stronger than before.  
_'What's going on?' _were the thoughts that emerged in both their minds as they unknowingly strengthened their focus on the energy synergy.

'Um guys?' asked Brock. 'Do you want to start a Pokemon Battle or a staring contest?'

'Sorry!' both of them said, a little embarrassed. Their pokemon let out a few silent snickers – Dawn look totally confused while Brock had, for a tiny moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. Pikachu wasn't really paying attention, as it was constantly being 'pestered' by Dawn's Buneary while talking to Pachirisu (the two had developed a very close friendship during the Space-Time incident, where both the electric-types had gained the distinction of having helped save the world from an infinite quantum entanglement).  
'Alright Riolu, let's go!' Ash commanded, as that old, familiar fire of determination was ablaze in him again.

'Skiploom, let's take the stage' said May, directing her Cottonweed onto the ground.

The two opponents stood face-to-face. Brock signaled the battle to begin, by raising both his hand in the traditional referee style.  
May moved first, signaling Skiploom to begin the battle by flying up. It hovered effortlessly, guided by the fluid motion of the wind: something it could sense flawlessly.

Riolu was ordered to use Focus Punch. With an impressive high jump that could have put Blaziken to shame, a radiant fist connected with Skiploom's body, although the latter quickly used a Gust attack to lessen the impact of Riolu's Focus Punch.  
Now it was Skiploom who attacked. The Gust attack continued gracefully at her trainer's command. With a contest maneuver, May ordered Skiploom to use Razor Leaf.

A flurry of razor-sharp leaves clashed directly upon Riolu, who was unable to dodge in time as the velocity of the leaves had been augmented by the Gust attack.

'_Typical contest move. Let's give May something she won't expect.' _Ash thought, as his focus on the battle intensified. He soon found an opening.

'Alright Riolu, sidestep the attack!' He commanded.

The Aura Pokemon complied, moving in a speedy zigzag to avoid the Gust-Razor Leaf combination. His attempt was fruitful as it followed up by suddenly jumping in the air. Skiploom wasn't ready for this. The baby Lucario had barely stopped it's combination attack when Riolu used Force Palm.  
The fighting type attack, though not very effective, was successful in getting the Cottonweed out of the air. Skiploom crash landed on the ground, down but not out.

'Skiploom, Cotton Spore and follow up with Aerial Ace!' May ordered.

A white substance (probably Cotton), ejected out of Skiploom, significantly decreasing Riolu's Speed.

Next, the Cottonweed disappeared in a flash of white light, immediately reappearing again and again. This was another one of May's contest combinations: using Cotton Seed's remaining cotton to totally confuse the opponent's senses while bringing it down using a critical attack.  
But Riolu was ready. Why? Because it was not limited like other Pokemon to five senses – and May had forgotten this. Although it had to endure a hit due to the dead-on accuracy of Skiploom's attack, he was able to avoid the most of the attack by the proliferation of his Aura guidance.

'Great work Riolu, Now let's finish this with Iron Tail!'

The emanation Pokemon complied by preparing a glowing tail for attack. It manged to get into the perfect position to hit Skiploom and scored a direct hit with one tail flick.

That hit proved to be the final blow for May's Skiploom; exhausted, it collapsed completely.

'Ash and Riolu are the clear winners!' Brock announced.

Riolu did a very weird thing: It gave May and Skiploom a short bow, and went over to Ash. It beamed a wave of emotion to Ash: something which clearly said 'I'm happy at my first victory'. Somehow, his trainer could tell exactly how he was feeling, and what he was trying to say.  
Unknowingly, Ash transmitted his own thoughts of thanks: having absolutely no idea how he managed to do it. Riolu sure seemed a lot happier. Satisfied, he went over to to the other pokemon who gave him a pat on the back for doing a good job.  
Shaking off this emotional contact, Ash went over to thank May for a great battle; something that aroused that same tingling emotion again as they came into close proximity.

'Where did Riolu learn those manners?' asked May, curious about the fact that the newborn could be aware of something so mature as giving so much respect.

'Surely not from it's trainer.' Dawn answered, teasing Ash and getting her hat pulled over her eyes in the process. Ash had been doing that a lot lately, it had become his standard action whenever Dawn teased him like that: reminiscent, though highly unlike what May usually did to Max when _he _was teasing her.  
May giggled. Brock explained to her that Ash and Dawn didn't fight around 'silly little things' as much as a _real _pair of siblings would (obviously hinting at hers and Max's endeavors), but it was, for him at least, a welcome change form the monotonous action of their long distance travels. Of course it could get a little irritating sometimes.

It was then that our group noticed something odd: their pokemon weren't laughing. They were silent and seemed to have eyes only for the sky at the moment.

Four pairs of human eyes followed their Pokemon's line of vision. Then they saw what the disturbance was about; the quiet of the night sky was being disturbed. If one listened carefully, a nerve chilling, bone rending noise was audible: a voice that seemed to encompass all the ages of the Earth, all the ferocity of the storm and all the violence of the stormy Sea.  
This trailed in from a gigantic formation of rapidly rotating dark clouds: something created by this absolute force. Ash found himself feeling a very uncomfortable tingle at the sight of these clouds: as if he could feel it was something really terrible.  
But then, it stopped. Almost in an instant, it seemed that the gentle silence of the night had been restored and that the environment went back to normal. Still, that momentary desolate feeling had not vanished from our quartet: Ash seemed a little bit more affected by it than usual, although he was also the first one to shake that feeling off.

Almost involuntarily, Ash, May, Brock and Dawn recalled their pokemon. Without a word, they strode off, each of them knowing exactly where the others were going.

- - -

'What the hell was that?'

This was the same question asked by each and everyone who had come to the Grand Festival's Pokemon Center. Nearly all the Festival participants were there anxious for news about that particularly odd weather phenomenon.  
Every eye was focused on the center's big Plasma TV, waiting for news to come.

'NEWSFLASH'

'We've been getting reports that an invariable large storm has been sighted all across Sinnoh's southern perimeter: seen near to Pastoria City's Grand Festival site.' reported Helena, Sinnoh's favorite news forecaster.  
'This weird storm phenomenon has been linked by our experts to the sudden inactivation of the Stark Mountain. The connection between the two is still unknown, especially the reason why the storm persisted only for a little while. We'll be back after a little break.' said Helena, while the screen flashed with indifferent advertisements.

'Bad.' said Dawn. 'When did Stark Mountain become inactive?' she wondered aloud.

'Around two days ago.' said Zoey, joining up with them. This was probably the first time that our group had seen her and Dawn so worried, despite Dawn's oft uttered maxim 'Not to worry!'.

'Didn't you guys know? It's been all over the news lately.' she continued, now talking to all of them.

'I don't even know what Stark Mountain _is_.' said May, wondering what they were so worried about and all.

'Oh, you're new to Sinnoh aren't you? Stark mountain is an ancient volcano, located far north of here:In a place kinda like the Kanto Battle Frontier. It's a volcano that never erupts but is always active. The Sinnoh Legends tell of an incredible power living there, a power which through it's flames, keeps the southern side of Sinnoh warm and comfy.' Dawn, being a Sinnoh native, explained.  
'The wind here blows from far north to south: directly in the direction of Hoenn. This wind current spreads that volcanic warmth all over southern Sinnoh.' said Zoey 'Every native knows this, and it's what keeps the whole of Sinnoh from becoming like Snowpoint. We're _that _far north.'

'So what about the storm isn't that -' Brock began, but was cut off by Helena announcing her return.

'It has been confirmed' she said, 'That it was Rayquaza who was responsible from stopping the storm.'  
Images of the Emerald Dragon came on the screen. It had a very puzzled look on it's nearly expressionless face – as if it was trying to find something. Apparently it was shifting from side to side, searching for the source of the storm while also getting it's Airlock – the ability to block a weather effect – to spread everywhere, preventing the storm from proliferating.  
'We still don't know, however, what is causing it. Reports from the World Coordinator Forum have decided not to cancel the Grand Festival' (every coordinator present gave a sigh of relief: It was something that was on their minds) 'but to proceed with caution. The Second Round has been officially delayed by a day. The Grand Coordinator was unavailable for comment as she is out on a vital expedition; although the administration had declared to direct her to Sinnoh as soon as she returns: if the situation requires it.' Helena completed all this in one long breath.

'On to Kanto, Cerulean City will be experiencing...' she carried off, going on about the weather of the other regions.  
'That was that.' said May, now looking a little scared herself. Apparently, the situation was serious enough to warrant Grand Coordinator innervation: something that hasn't happened in history. Of course, the position was newly created; whereby the Grand Coordinator was _the _best in the world, having won the Festival of every region, and so on. The qualification for GC (as the post was often called) and WC (World Champion, being the league equivalent), were quite near-impossible to accomplish.

'_Loooong way to go – at least Ash is closer to his goal than I am._' May thought mentally sighing, as she, Ash and Brock slowly exited the Center building, walking back to their residence. Dawn had excused herself: she wanted to call her mother.

'Thank Rayquaza the storm's over.' Ash said, quite literally, as they came out onto the center's garden: the place which had been Riolu's first sight of the colorful outside.

A slither of green flew over the festival sky, scanning the premises carefully. Not finding what it wanted, the Emerald Protector moved on...

- - -

Things become a little weird now don't they:)


	5. Draconian Delegation

I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates, but my schedule hasn't left me in a considerable position to write. However, things are looking better now, and I'll be trying for regular updates.

The Previous chappie was just a kind of preview of what is to come after the festival is over. If any of you are disappointed about the lack of advanceshipping, I'm sorry, but it will not get established so easily. Don't worry though, It will get established, hopefully, in a reasonable manner.

Till then enjoy Dawn's performances, and thanks for the reviews!

* * *

Chapter 5: Round Two – Draconian Delegation

A ball of dark energy sliced through to the electric squirrel. However, Pachirisu was quick and dodged it playfully. A command from it's trainer and it jumped on top of the ball, hence slowing down it's own momentum to gain just enough time to shoot out a jolt of electricity from it's cheek capacitors.

But on the other side, the Evolution Pokemon was just a fast. Running in between the sparks, it managed to hit it opponent head on, and bite it hard, causing it to be knocked out.

'Pachirisu is unable to battle, May and Eevee are the winners!' Brock announced, who was refereeing the match as usual.

May went over to Eevee to give it a cuddle. She went over to Ash and Dawn, where the former was pointing out the latter's strategy flaws. The final round of appeals would be over soon - they had been postponed to today: the third day of the Sinnoh Grand Festival. The bizarre event of the first day was still fresh in everyone's minds. The second day was decided to be unsafe by the Contest Committee – after all, it's better to be safe then sorry – especially while dealing with the security of the thousands of spectators who had come to watch the Festival.

However, the threat of the storm wasn't nearly enough to warrant our quartet to stay indoors. Dawn wanted to train – which was natural assuming the level of competition she was about to face - her rivals wouldn't be sleeping on the job either. May wanted to help too, but her first priority – for now – was _shopping._ She had promptly dragged Ash along with her as Brock and Dawn started training, the former highly sympathetic over Ash's misfortune.

After a few hours of torment (for Ash) and delight (for May), they returned. Ash immediately went over to train with Dawn, to relieve himself of extreme boredom by the thrill of a battle. However, the after effects of those tormenting hours still gripped his mind. He barely managed to win. Somehow, he was certain that if it was anyone other than May he went to shop with – he would have fallen asleep on the spot.

May had changed into the new clothes which she had bought here at the Festival. She was insistent on the fact that since Ash and Brock had got new ones in Sinnoh – why shouldn't she? This caused the shopping period to be extended by over an hour, where she finally decided upon a dress strikingly similar to the first one, but was blue in the places where the original dress had red – and white where the original had other colors. She completed this with a matching white bandanna which had an elaborate blue pokeball patten on it.

The clothes were, essentially, of the polar opposite colors of her old ones. The blue-white appearance, matching perfectly with her sapphire blue eyes, made Ash comment that she looked like a Swablu, causing May to blush. Dawn commented that she now looked like a Swablu with fever, causing May to get emotionally upset. Ash tried cheer her up (which worked like a charm), while Brock explained to Dawn about how May had rescued a Swablu during their Hoenn journey which happened to be a pokemon she had become emotionally attached with.

With _that_agonizing event over, the day soon progressed with a discussion about contest tactics, followed up by practice battles.

Those battles extended till today: and Dawn had shown a lot of improvement during her determined fight against May and Ash. Yesterday, she had lost to May 2-1 and to Ash 3-2, but today, she drew with May in a series of four battles.

Now, Ash was trying to teach Riolu some attack trick, along with the help of his other Pokemon. May and Dawn met up for a little chat after that intense battle.

'That was great Dawn. You've done quite a bit of training.' said May. Even though she had won, Dawn was, as Ash rightly said; no easy going coordinator.

'Thanks May. I'll still need to do a lot of work to be as good as you.' she replied. 'But not to worry, I'll get there.'

'Hey guys!' said Brock, turning to them after a glance at the room clock. 'The results of the final appeal must be out, let's go and check it out!'

'Alright!' exclaimed Dawn. She was out of the room, running to the Festival Pokemon Center before anyone could say "Pikachu".

- - -

'You're tied with this Megretha girl Dawn. I wonder what she's like?' May questioned, curious to know the details about Dawn's opponent.

'Well, Zoey is gonna battle Kenny.' Dawn replied, carefully scanning the results of the Top Thirty-Two. The Sinnoh Festival was more focused on Appeals than contest battles; this was a long held tradition.

Unlike the Kanto and Hoenn festivals, the one here had two appeal rounds: which narrowed down participants to the best Thirty-two, unlike the traditional Sixty-four. This worked in the following way: The participants were divided into two blocks: A and B.

The A block (which included Dawn and her rivals), had it's appeal on the Second day. The Top sixteen coordinators qualified into the best thirty two. They were joined by sixteen more coordinators from the B block, whose members showed their appeals on the Third day of the festival.

'Is y-your name Dawn?' came a voice. A teenage girl walked up to the young coordinator and held out her hand. Dawn shook it. She had rather short hair for a girl and wore a dress made completely of the colors violet and cyan. This made a striking contrast to Dawn's black and May's white dress. She was slightly taller than Dawn, although a little shorter than Brock. But Brock wasn't even here! He had managed to say around one word to Nurse Joy before he was expertly dragged away by his Croagunk to Rayquaza knows where.

Megretha had a blue pokemon by her side, who had a hard head. Her Bagon was constantly poking her leg, apparently wanting something.

'I'm Megretha, your opponent. I'm in a hurry, but I've just come to meet you.' she said. She certainly looked like she was in a hurry: her Bagon was still pulling her leg periodically to remind her.

'Anyway, g-good luck to you tomorrow. Y-You'll need it 'cause I'm a Dragon type coordinator.' she was stammering a bit now, it was noticeable.

With that hasty speech, she practically ran towards the exit.

'Well, that's a nice new rival you've got there Dawn... er, I think.' said Ash. 'You'll be having a tough time fighting a Dragon Type, I wonder how her appeals will be...' he drifted on.

'It seems Dawn has a thing for getting only _nice _rivals' May said, a little disappointed.

'Well, you get good experience from having annoying rivals May.' Ash told her. 'I've had my share of them; It's annoying but worth it. You wouldn't be where you are now if it weren't for Harley ... or Drew.'

'Maybe that's true...' May replied, pondering his words for a moment.

Ash turned to Dawn. 'And not to worry Dawn, you'll be fine tomorrow.' he said it with a reassuring smile: a smile that can lighten up anyone's day.

'Really? But Dragon types are gonna be hard to beat aren't they?' Dawn said, a little nervous now.

'Yeah, but with me and May's training, you'll have no problem'

'I hope so. Well, not to worry...' she tailed off, dragging Brock along with them as they walked out into the quiet evening...a very cloudy quiet evening.

- - -

'Get ready everyone, to witness the spectacle of another exciting battle!' announced Marian, as the stage , as well as the crowd was set the next morning.

'For our first pair of contestants, we have Dawn from Twinleaf town and Megretha from Veilstone City!'

A roar of anticipating applause followed, wherein the two coordinators unleashed their two sets of pokemon.

From Dawn's side, out came her ever reliable penguin Pokemon: Prinplup. Alongside it stood a chocolate colored bunny, looking ever confident.

Megretha unleashed her Bagon and a curiously shaped blue Dragon type Pokemon. It looked like a cross between a shark and a dragon: intimidating in any case.

Luckily for Dawn, she had seen a Gabite before, and had come up with the pokemon who would be the best to take out Megretha's dragon types.

The two teams faced each other, the four pairs of eyes glowing with fierce determination along with their trainers. The timer was activated, causing the teams to spring immediately into action. Dawn's strategy was defense: she waited for her opponent to make the first move.

'Bagon, let's start out with focusing your energy. Gabite, move in close and go for a Take Down attack' Megretha commanded.

Her pokemon complied. Bagon stood perfectly still, and closed his eyes in concentration. His Focus Energy move may not have inflicted damage, but it was still beautiful to see. Gabite, on the other hand, quickly gained momentum while coming within close proximity with Dawn's pokemon. However, his Take Down attack was countered by Prinplup using it's steel armor by actively blocking it.

However, this caused both the pokemon to sustain a little damage. It was followed by a tiny loss of points of both coordinators.

Dawn tried to move out on the offensive, by ordering Buneary to use Ice Beam while connecting it with Prinplup's Hydro Pump. The effect was elegant; Hydro Pump served as a conductor for the Ice type move, thereby creating a beautiful column of ice which hit Gabite right on target.

'Will you look at that!' exclaimed Marian, 'A Hydro Pump and Ice Beam combination which worked both beautifully and effectively.'

A significant portion of Megretha's points decreased, but Dawn knew better than to become overconfident.

'That was a good move' May said, cheering on her new friend.

'Yeah, but I don't think Megretha's gonna let her off so easily.' Brock countered. Ash had remained silent, observing Dawn's tactics carefully. Pikachu and Riolu were doing the cheering duties.

The Dragon type coordinator wasn't in the least bit about to give up. With an ingenious combination attack of her Gabite's Dragon Rage and Bagon's Headbutt, the two pokemon delivered a monumental blow to Buneary. A mix of these two completely radical attacks, where Bagon delivered a headbutt _through_ her Gabite's Dragon Rage, simultaneously blocking Bagon from view was a novelty that commended itself. Clearly reflecting this result was the scoreboard: Both Dawn and her opponent had their points at the halfway mark, with two minutes of time left on the clock.

But, Buneary had other plans. Before falling down, it mustered up it's last reserve of energy, unleashing an awe inspiring Ice Beam attack which hit the opponent Bagon dead center. This resulted in the judges declaring both Buneary and Bagon to be knocked out, leaving the two rivals to face a one-on-one battle.

The situation was critical with excitement from the crowd's side, and with adrenaline pounding through the bodies of the two coordinators. It was a who-gives-the-other-a-red-signal-first match now, unless the combat could be refuted by skillful and innovative tactics.

Dawn, it seemed, was the one who was going to have to use such tactics. Gabite, although worn out from the battle, was a powerful adversary against Prinplup. Though the latter did have a natural defense against the former, the Dragon type was still a force to be reckoned with.

Gabite had woven yet another beautiful Dragonbreath attack which caused an expressive amount of damage on Dawn's tired Prinplup, as well as her battle score. Dawn ordered Prinplup to try and doge the succession of attacks that it's opponent was launching to buy her some time to think. She didn't have much time, and she knew it. Only Prinplup's defense was keeping it conscious.

_Come on Dawn, think, think. What did Ash and May tell you to do in situations like this?_

'You can do it Dawn!' she heard a voice from the stands, the voice that was the spark which led to a brainwave.

'Prinplup, Hydro Pump in all directions!' Dawn commanded.

The Penguin Pokemon generated a semi-continuous whirlpool of water. Surfing on top of the pool, it used in magnified momentum to propel itself at an immense speed towards Gabite.

Gabite didn't see him coming, but he certainly felt the power of his opponent's Areal Ace. At a last attempt of resistance, it launched a Hyperbeam. The attack narrowly missed Dawn's Prinplup which moved in to deliver the final blow: a flash of high speed Metal Claw, and the Dragon type fell face first onto the arena's floor.

- - -

'YES!' exclaimed Dawn, bouncing with excitement as she came out of the stadium, giving an extra forceful hi five to Ash.

'Ouch! Not SO hard' said Ash, his happy expression turning into an annoyed one. The bickering between the two soon followed up, almost instantly. Pikachu took refuge by jumping on top of May's bandanna.

'Those two fight like siblings.' May sighed, speaking in the most matter-of-fact tone she had ever used.

'Missing Max, aren't you May?' Brock questioned, a wearing a little sympathetic expression. May gave a small nod in response.

'Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I really missed my brothers and sisters too, back at Pewter when I joined Ash on his travels.' reflected the Breeder, his minuscule eyes focusing somewhere down Memory lane. 'I learned to live with it. I guess sometimes you need to leave the people you love, at least for a while, to fulfill your dreams...' he trailed off.

May stared at Brock. She hadn't heard him talking so sincerely for quite a while, and apart from that, she couldn't help but feel that there was a double meaning in his statement, somehow.

'Hey D-Dawn?' asked a voice. The quartet turned around to see Megretha (which also stopped Ash and Dawn's bickering back to , who was wearing an expression of satisfaction on her face. She went over to Dawn and shook her hand.

'That was a great battle Dawn.'

'Hey thanks!'

The two girls exchanged more pleasantries, and Dawn found Megretha's coordinating career to be fascinating. She excused her self and went off with her new rival, both of them ranting on about their style and art of Pokemon Coordinating.

They got a little carried away and barely managed to make it in time to see the final minute of Zoey and Kenny's battle.

It was a neck – to – neck battle. With one pokemon down on each side, Kenny's Alakazam and Zoey's Glameow were fighting to see which one of them could produce the most beautifully executed attacks.

Alakazam had the advantage in power, but Glameow: sleek and speedy, had the upper hand in terms of attack choreography and beauty – the essence of a contest battle.

The two opponents kept attacking and defending: creating spectacular combinations overhanging the Oval Stadium.

The time ran out before anyone could know it. For a moment, it seemed that the world had stood still, and that there were dark clouds forming everywhere over the arena. It was really just the effect of the final explosion before the timer exhausted, but deep inside, the spectators felt that it was somehow connected to events taking place far greater than they could comprehend.

Ultimately, the dust cleared. Zoey and Glameow were the winners as Alakazam didn't manage to stand still – but no one was celebrating. There was that ominous feeling again, and there were only two people in the crowd who were somehow able to comprehend it's magnitude.

This feeling too dissipated, but not without foreshadowing a sense of despair.

Leaving those feelings aside, our quartet gave Zoey a little cheer, firing themselves up with enthusiasm for the next round: an appeal round. However, none of them truly had any idea about what would happen after the Festivals festivities would end.

* * *

Hope the last part wasn't rushed. Anyway, I suppose that the next chappie will be the last of the Grand Festival, after which we can move on to more intriguing events. :) 


	6. Festivities Finale

Chapter Six: Festivities Finale

The massive display blazed with the results of the spectacular appeal session. Here were displayed the top eight coordinators participating in this year's Sinnoh Grand Festival; and Dawn was among them.

But so were her two remaining rivals: Zoey and the two-in-one gentleman by the name of Nando. He was later going to compete in the Sinnoh League championships as well, facing Ash along with Paul.

Three of the qualifying coordinators, one non participating coordinator, a trainer, a breeder and a Pikachu celebrated as the results of the Grand Appeal Round were declared.This was the last appeal session of the Sinnoh Festival. The three rivals were all in, and that's what they now wanted: their skills put to the ultimate test.

The Fifth Day of the Festival was undeniably the most spectacular event in the entire tournament. Sixteen of the best coordinators fought their war: the war of beauty, the war of brilliance and the war of extraordinary grace and power. Appeals that many people could not have imagined in their wildest dreams took place here; appeals that took your breath away when your looked at them; moves that struck in the mind a sense of beauty and radiance encapsulating that of the entire Pokemon world.

- - -

The image flickered onto the screen. It displayed the face of a woman. She had blue hair and matching eyes, reflecting her clam but motherly personality.

On the other side of the screen, there stood a breathless coordinator and her friends. The resemblance of the two females was accurate to the details of their hair and eye colors, but the one on the festival side was much younger.

'Hi Mom!' said Dawn, smiling; she was happy to talk to her mother again, and _especially _happy to talk to her after achieving something.

'Hello Dawn,' said Johanna, 'And before you say anything: congratulations. I saw your appeal on TV; not that bad you know. Oh and before you're at it again: don't tell me not to worry!' Johanna gave her daughter a wink. Dawn blushed with a little embarrassment.

'Alright – and thanks mom. Did you see the appeal of that Leaf girl...' Dawn trailed off, chattering again.

Meanwhile, May had sidestepped out of the Mother-Daughter conversation to receive a videophone call from someone.

May adjusted herself in front of the phone. She smiled a little at the image of the person before her; he had green hair, eyes and isometric facial features.

'Hey Drew. Finally got your last ribbon?' she asked.

'Yeah, that one was easy.' Drew replied, 'I heard what happened at the Festival a few days ago. Are you alright?' he asked, a little concern visible on his face.

'Yeah. I'm fine.'

'So, have you asked him yet? Is it okay with him?' Drew changed to the topic for which he had made the call. He was curious to see if May was capable of the task which she had assigned to herself.

'No, I'm sorry Drew.' she replied with a sigh. This conflicting part of herself had not risen lately due to the company of her friends, and she intended to keep it that way.

'That's alright May.' Drew replied, although his expression remained static. 'You still have at least three months since the Johto Festival. Tell me there.'

'Alright.' said May, relieved.

'Fine. Remember, the Johto Ribbon Cup is gonna be mine! Bye!'

With a flick of his green hair and a wink, Drew's image flickered off into blackness.

May got up and put the phone's receiver back to it's stand. She sat about thinking, her sapphire blues contracted in concentration...

_'Well, his arrogance hasn't come down much, has it now? He's still right though; I wonder what I should do now with so much going on...'_

- - -

'Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen to our next Top Eight Victory round battle!' Marian announced. It was a bright sunny day again, and everyone was sure that the weather patterns of Sinnoh were _really_ going crazy. Truth be told, neither the PLA, nor the media had anything new to tell the world about Sinnoh's potential catastrophe, and in the Festival, it was business as usual.

'We have, next, Zoey from Canalave City battling Dawn from Twinleaf Town!' exclaimed the excited Sinnoh MC, firing up the crowd.

'Which of these two magnificent coordinators will win? Let's get busy!'

With that, the ten minute timer went off, counting down the six hundred seconds which would decide the semi finalist.

'Alright; Prinplup, Pachirisu; Spotlight!' Dawn commanded, letting her two favorite Pokemon out for battling against her primary rival. The ball capsules let the two battlers pop onto the stage with spectacular visuals.

'Glameow, Gastrodon; Let's roll into action!' Zoey commanded, as the two Pokemon; the normal type Cat and the water type invertebrate came out with elemental showers from their ball capsules.

May took the chance of looking Gastrodon up in Ash's Pokedex:

"_Gastrodon; The Sea Slug Pokemon. It has a soft and boneless body. Its damaged body parts heal and recover immediately."_

'_Not good! It must have evolved sometime now._' thought May. Ash and Brock were looking a little apprehensive too, although they had a little smile of confidence on their faces; they had seen Dawn pulling through before: why shouldn't she now?

Dawn took the offensive without any waste of time. She ordered her Prinplup to attack Glameow with a tactful Bubble, followed by a Whirlpool. This created a spiraling channel of water packed with_highly explosive _bubbles. That's right - explosive bubbles! Something definitely not desired in a bubble bath.

The bubble-whirlpool was fast, but so was Zoey's Glameow. It couldn't evade the attack completely, but it did manage to dodge it sufficiently so that the attack didn't inflict a critical hit.

Zoey had her Gastrodon replicate this attack; but Prinplup and Pachirisu managed to evade it.

But this was a distraction. A Shadow Ball from Glameow managed to critically hit Prinplup, although the proud penguin would not go down so easily.

A wildly excited Elesquirrel sent down a good thousand volt jolt down to it's opponents simultaneously. This created a momentary paralysis (and a drop of points for Zoey) where Dawn was able to revive her Prinplup for a combined and dazzling combination of Hydro Pump and Discharge. The current spiraled down the conducting water ... and was deflected back! The Sea Slug and the Cat used a combination of a speed agumented Shadow Ball and Surf to great effect. Gastrodon surfed on a array of tiny shadow balls and the force of the water knocked down both of Dawn's Pokemon – for the time being.

With five minutes left on the clock, Dawn and Zoey were almost equal in points, although the former had a _slightly _higher score.

But looking up, the sky was changing. It was the middle of the day, and yet the mercury suddenly went down. There was a flash of lightning, and the sky went dark. This caused our two coordinators to look up in surprise. Yet, they shrugged it off, and the battle went on.

Prinplup let out a stream of bubbles. With the darkness of the sky, the light of the stadium, slowly switching on, dispersed into the optical spectrum. There was a bright rainbow on the stage – a pretty fast one which managed to hit Glameow.

But the feline Pokemon retaliated by coming in close and striking the penguin with shadow claw. It's dark color offered it an advantage and made it nearly impossible to see – so it hit it's mark.

Pachirisu emitted an electrifying Thunderbolt out of it's cheeks. The blue flash of electricity glimmered with sparkling radiance, severely hitting the type disadvantaged Gastrodon. A strange thing happened when Gastrodon, loosing it's balance, tumbled onto it's partner. Ironical though it was, the sheer weight of the Sea Slug Pokemon caused the shadow cat to faint, leaving Zoey with only one Pokemon.

Gastrodon unleashed a Giga Impact: it's trump card; and attack of furious intensity where the heavy Pokemon rapidly gained momentum and charged like a projectile onto it's opponent – in this case – it was Prinplup.

Suddenly, without warning, the clouds burst open to let the sunlight climb through. Prinplup was completely unable to adjust to normal conditions in time and the momentary flash caused it to lose it's focus. That was a fatal error: the Giga Impact was able to make contact – and it did make an impact. Prinplup, retaining it's proud posture, fell on the ground fainting.

A small frown developed on both Dawn and Zoey's faces. Their eyes met for a moment, and they immediately understood each other: the weather was the weather – and it's effects on the battle had to be accepted, although both of them, as fair rivals wanted a fair battle.

Now, it was just Pachirisu facing Gastrodon, with a mere minute remaining on the clock.

'Come on Dawn.' Ash whispered, closing his eyes in focus. Brock was calmly analyzing the battle while May seemed to be in deep thought: her eyes were closed lightly, just like Ash, as though conveying an indescribable form of emotion to her new friend. Pikachu and Buneary were up front, cheering Dawn on.

Pachirisu and Gastrodon kept on fighting. That fighting was graceful and spectacular – the essence of a contest battle. The elesquirrel's electrifying ability to overcome the Ground-type immunity and the Sea Slug's experience ensured that each of them could expertly evade, repel and retaliate at the other's attacks.

This resulted in the timer finally expiring. After what seemed like a long battle, the scores of both coordinators were within a 2 margin – nearly a draw.

'It looks like we have a tie!' Marian announced to the thunderstruck crowd. 'Since this is not permissible in a Grand Festival match, the coordinator with the highest appeal score shall move on to the semifinals!'

'That means ... ' Dawn spoke, partly to herself, partly to Zoey.

'...Zoey from Canalave City shall proceed to the next round, Congratulations Zoey!' Marian announced, checking the results from the Judges' desk.

'...It's me.' Zoey answered, moving toward Dawn – who was looking disappointed. 'Don't worry Dawn, you've done great for your first Grand Festival.' she said, comforting her rival and giver her a hand.

The two opponents walked out of the stadium, to an enormous roar of applause from the spectators.

Outside, Dawn found that her friends were waiting, and although she had lost, they were still proud. It was over for her now, at least for this year; but Ash's Sinnoh challenge was still something to look forward to.

- - -

The next evening, the Festival was finally over. The conclusive battle for the Ribbon Cup was fought in a fiery encounter between Nando and a coordinator named Leaf – a girl perhaps Ash's age – who lost to the former. Nando had briefly met up with our quartet to say a quick – but gentle word of goodbye with his Roserade.

'It would be most inadvisable to go through Valor Lakefront at the moment, Master Ash.' he added, courteously, with a little indication of seriousness on his face.

'Valor Lakefront?' Ash asked, looking confused.

'Oh, it's Sinnoh's best resort Ash!' May exclaimed, squealing a little. 'I've always wanted to go there, I've heard so much about it!'

'Well yeah, we should be passing it on the way to Sunnyshore.' Brock said, 'But why shouldn't we go there Nando? It's on the way to the last Gym.'

'There is a terrible storm brewing, and I bid it inadvisable to travel near the sea. A ferry service has begun which reaches Sunnyshore by traveling around the whole of Sinnoh – but it takes a longer period.' replied the Top Coordinator.

'Oh, I see.' Ash said. 'We'll keep that in mind Nando, thanks.'

'You're welcome. Now, if you permit, I must take my leave for I have the ferry booked. I look forward to meeting you at the Sinnoh League, Master Ash; Although I doubt my trainer skills are as good as my coordinating ones.'

With a quick bow and a swish of a robe, he left with Roserade following up behind.

Next, our quartet had to decide weather it was worth risking the storm for the Valor Lakefront – but for now, it was time to relax for a little while before setting off on their journey once more – but this time, they had a new Pokemon and an old friend with them.

* * *

A little trivia:

Dawn losing because of her appeal score is reminiscent of the fact that she is the only protagonist in the Pokemon anime to have lost like that in the Hearthome Contest.

Drew wants something from May...I wonder what it is?

So, that was the last chapter of the Festival. I think we'll come to the main plot now, as well as increase the advanceshippy content gradually.


	7. Turbulence

A/N: This chapter marks the first sight of a major OC for the story as well as the beginning of the main Plot. Thanks for the reviews, keep reviewing (after reading, of course)!

* * *

Chapter Seven: Turbulence

It was a hazy evening here in Port Pastoria. As the Sun was making it's descent to below the horizon, a ray of light streamed over a small bush.

Beneath the bush, was a trio of familiar figures who were hiding themselves, not wanting to be seen by those whom they were observing.

'Hey Jess, I think that the Twerps are going to board that ship!' James, the one with the blue hair, told his team mate.

'Quiet James!' replied the red haired woman, peering through the green bush.

She could see that the quartet was heading to a bench right next to the port, although their expressions were not visible. A magnificent Cruise ship lay in the background, with the letterings '_Lady Light' _on it's front brow. The ship was being boarded by many passengers, and the three members of Team Rocket soon lost sight of their swift prey in the crowd.

They were nowhere to be seen now – they had vanished as fast as a Drifloon in the wind.

'Great, now yous lost em' !' Meowth sighed. He carefully came out of the bush and sneaked toward the ship. The two other members of the Team followed – they could sense what to do next – a result of being together for so long.

Repeating what they had done so many times now, the Team quietly slipped onto the ship. They had done so just in time too, the ocean liner left port a mere ten minutes after their infiltration. Being a stowaway was always risky, but exciting and sometimes fate dictated it, especially for this particularly miserable group of Team Rocket field agents.

- - -

An electric rodent led the way as the road went on and on. It's excellent sense of hearing was complemented by it's partner – A far younger Pokemon that was currently walking around with it's eyes closed. Even so, it could sense by the means of Aura, the path and direction it must lead the team through. Riolu and Pikachu were doing their jobs rather well, although it was becoming more difficult every second – guiding the four young souls out of the haze safely, although the former was much younger than all of them.

The road on which our quartet was traveling on was pretty unused. Usually, there was a premier Trainer's road, apart from many other motorized ones which led to the resort of Valor Lakefront and onto Veilstone and Sunnyshore City.

However, the recent storm had caused all of them to be shut down. There was a fanatic rush towards the new Ferry Service, and this resulted in high prices with rooms all booked out – not something our heroes really liked.

May was, to start with, quite happy with this, saying that it would give her a good chance to see the Sinnoh region up close. Her cherry mood diminished, however, as they started upon this gloomy, desolate path towards Valor Lakefront. It was expected to take at least a week or two of consistent traveling by foot, as the distance to the famous resort was a little under a hundred miles from Pastoria City, and there was the unpredictable weather they had to contend with.

But this was a journey that they were prepared to take – after all, the group had faced many dire circumstances before, and Ash did not want to miss the Sinnoh League due to a "little wind blowing up on my face" - as he put it.

They encountered a growing blanket of fog, after nearly a day's march.

'Even Team Rocket won't be able to find us in this fog!' sighed May, completely oblivious to the fact that the incompetent villainous trio was probably far away from them – miles out at sea.

The fog was slowly becoming impossible to navigate. As our group went along the rugged road the sound of someone falling could be heard, along with a little scream. Moving cautiously by instinct, Ash proceeded towards the barely visible figure, with Pikachu tagging along. It was Dawn - she had fallen on a rather hard rock and a stream of blood was trickling down of her leg.

'That must have hurt.' he murmured. 'Are you OK Dawn?' Ash asked her gently. She responded with a small nod while Pikachu hopped over onto her white hat to make her feel a little comfortable. The electric type attempted to calm her by patting her head gently with his paw. Ash tried to straighten out her leg which was proving to be a little difficult for the young girl.

The layer of white surrounding them soon gave away to Brock and May, who had followed Ash's Riolu as soon as it had sensed two members of the group (and Pikachu) not within the confines of his Aura 'vision'. Brock and May understood the situation immediately, as they rushed over to where Ash and Dawn were. As if it was a well rehearsed play, May went over to comfort Dawn while Ash and Brock applied bandages from the Breeder's emergency first-aid kit.

In a ironical turn of events, a streak of green flashed across the sky just as soon as they had finished attending to Dawn. In no time at all, the fog began to dissipate – but not before May had the opportunity to aim her Pokedex at that green streak;

_'Rayquaza, the Sky High Dragon pokemon. A Pokémon that flies endlessly in the ozone layer. It is said it would descend to the ground if Kyogre and Groudon were to fight.' _

'So that was the "Airlock" ability then.' Brock said, his expression told the others that he had understood what had happened. But – that was immaterial for now.

'Let's get going before the Fog comes back.' Dawn said, making a fruitless attempt to stand up.

The others looked at each other. They knew that there was no way they could go before Dawn was fit to travel. Like a prechoreographed movement, May and Ash simultaneously lifted Dawn by the shoulders – one holding up each – and began moving towards a now-visible clearing.

'I'm sorry Ash, May. Oh, and be careful not to spoil my hair.' Dawn said, looking deeply disappointed. She had her eyes firmly on the ground, although the last remark was said with more enthusiasm.

'That's alright.' both of them replied together. They arrived at the clearing after walking a bit at sluggish pace. Brock was ahead of them, and so were the two Pokemon – already on site and laying the tent foundations.

All this efficiency did surprise our quartet, but they should have expected that long years of traveling would lead to the development of such skills. Actually, this effect was the combinations of many factors – including the exposure of their Aura to Riolu.

'Dawn, you're heavy, you know that?' Ash said, panting slightly as he sat down on a log.

Dawn's expression of deep disappointment immediately turned into a malicious one.

'YOU THINK I'M WHAT???' she shouted.

- - -

Somewhere near the Valor Lakefront, overlooking the south Sinnoh beach...

_The sky was black. The wind was fast. _

_Over there did the storm last._

_The sea was green and submarine,_

_There was a voice which called all to pass._

_Dancing in the sea, beneath the waves,_

_From everywhere, from the caves._

Ever since becoming Grand Coordinator, she had to continually face some difficult and hazardous jobs. It wasn't always like that though – but now she was the first ever Grand Coordinator – and after all this position was created specifically for her. She was too strong for the Top Coordinator Class, there wasn't one person in the world who could outmaneuver her in contest battles. Not one who could choreograph more awe inspiring appeals.

So, it wasn't as if she couldn't manage, of course: in fact – she really enjoyed helping both people and Pokemon everywhere – it gave her an unmatched sense of satisfaction and purpose – two things she wanted; no; _needed, _now that she had found both love and fame.

But this problem ... it was a little different from what she usually came across – and usually, she was with someone really special who was always close to her. She remembered what he had told her ... _'When in doubt, close your eyes – and focus.'_

She did so. Slowly but surely, her sharp mind bent itself, transcending the normality of her five senses. She could see her answer clearly – it called out to her from the higher dimension of thought.

Opening her brilliant shimmering blue eyes, she had found the solution – the ocean was reflecting it back at her.

- - -

'So much for the cake.' Brock murmured, peering into his bag. He found some raw materials for food though; a couple of onions, carrots, and vegetables.

'Ah, forget it. I guess I'll just have to whip up something now.' he sighed, defeated. The Breeder went on to figure out the ingredients for his cuisine.

'Well Brock, you can't start cooking without a fire.' Dawn said peering at her bandaged leg rather nervously.

'Well, those two should get back before the Fog haunts us again.' he replied.

A cold breeze swept through their campsite, momentarily causing both Brock and Dawn to give a little shiver.

'I don't really get what's going on Brock, you know...' Dawn started, now watching the breeder as he prepared his ingredients, '... Sinnoh was never unfriendly or cold, at least for me.' she finished.

'You'll be surprised at how unfriendly the world can be Dawn.' Brock replied, smiling faintly. 'When you're traveling with Ash, strange things happen – even he doesn't know why. The good thing is that we can always learn from it – and see things – amazing things, which we don't normally see.' He finished, now in the process of mixing the ingredients and tasting the uncooked food.

In the background, the Sun was setting, slowly in all of it's majestic glory.

Dawn turned her head towards the sunset and gave a little smile as those refracted orange rays poured into her pupil. She soon closed her eyes, feeling that tingling of sunlight on her face – but she also felt something stronger ... a force which was pulling at her slightly and searching for something.

- - -

'There. Alright, Blaziken – return!' said May, raising her pokeball. Her fully evolved starter transformed into a red flash of energy as it returned to it's pokeball.

'Great. Let's get these back to the campsite.' Ash replied pointing to the freshly cut blocks of wood.

Without any further command, Riolu picked up a rather heavy bunch of logs and started walking back to the campsite, as if those logs were nothing but a bunch of papers.

Ash and May looked at each other, surprised. Once again, the eye contact resulted in that intense energy surge, causing both of them to flinch uncomfortably. But this time -

'Um...Ash, did you feel that?' May asked, although she was a tad bit nervous – she wasn't sure that Ash flinching was a part of her imagination.

'Yeah, it was weird. I...I think it's been happening for some time now.' he replied, smiling slightly but avoiding her eyes. He did look a little confused though, but he had learned throughout the course of his travels that small mysteries like these often solve themselves – they like to run away if you follow them.

There was an uncomfortable silence, but it was broken by Pikachu's prompting. The yellow rodent pointed to those freshly chopped logs while saying it's own name and later looked up at the glorious sunset.

'That's right buddy, we better get going before the Sun goes down.' Ash said. He proceeded to pick up a bunch of logs, helping May get some into her hands. He picked up the remaining ones himself and without another word, the three of them proceeded to follow Riolu back to the camp.

- - -

'Just in time guys!' Brock exclaimed as he proceeded to arrange the logs which his friends had brought beneath his vessel and lit a flickering flame.

It wasn't long before they and their Pokemon began eating. Brock's scrumptious food always managed to elevate their mood, no matter how bad it might be. The proceedings were once again happy and full of color, and Dawn almost forgot that she had an injured leg

Unknown to the party as well as the Grand Coordinator, the Emerald Guardian had locked in on whatever it was searching for. Although it had no power over it anymore, it would still try to negotiate – it must, or the Harmony of Nature would be in jeopardy.

* * *

Wait a minute ... I WROTE A POEM???

/Faints from disbelief.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my subconscious mind is playing tricks on me – I need to give it a firm scolding. :D

In all seriousness, I plan to proliferate the chapter length from now somewhat. I hope I can manage it!  
Lastly, THE CAKE IS A LIE!!! ;)


	8. A Drop of Purity

So, I've been gone for pretty long due to the exams - sorry for the understated delay. I should probably warn you that the situation may be the same for another two months. :(

Anyway, this fluff is right here for you to read and Review!

* * *

Chapter Eight: A Drop of Purity

'Rayquaza!' she exclaimed in delight, running up to the Emerald Dragon whilst carrying the all important package in her hands.

The Dragon -- although you couldn't quite make out an expression on it's expressionless features -- appeared to look satisfied. It was as if the solution to his problems was standing right in front of him.

The woman seemed to be in her mid twenties. She possessed distinctive and elaborate, flowing black hair; intensely radiating blue eyes. Her facial features demonstrated the capacity of her determination and wisdom – surmounting a sturdy and firm figure.

Her attire was one which displayed mild formality – but also had utility. With pure Cyan and a green outline, it consisted of a modern style robe and simple (but fashionable) boots and trainer gloves. Although they looked a little strange at the first glance; they managed to enhance her (already magnificent) beauty and give her the freedom of movement.

Her sea blue eyes contacted with those of the majestic Dragon who was levitating right in front of her. The two knew what the other was thinking. She had this special connection to Pokemon – she was able to feel their emotions, their thoughts and negotiate with them. This connection didn't materialize out of nowhere – it was developed over a long period of time and training, where she had discovered how to refine her thoughts and connect them with Nature.

Rayquaza knew her. In fact, she and her friends had saved him from some of Team Whirlwind's exploits when they were at the peak of their power. Rayquaza had shattered the entire base in fury – and Team Whirlwind fled, later diverging into Team Aqua and Magma.

But they were all defunct now. What was happening was merely an aftermath. But this aftermath could prove to be even more disastrous than the main event.

This brought Rayquaza back to what The Grand Coordinator was holding in her hands. With a brief nod from the latter, sending him a message of reassurance, The Emerald Dragon took off, gently ascending into the stratosphere.

He had been guarding the realm of The Sky – the one which he created eons ago, for several centuries now. This was because it's _true_ guardian was in a neverending anger (and so were his children), appearing only to those who had that capability of Mind, Body and Heart, to restore true peace to the world.

Those like The Grand Coordinator, and Ash Ketchum.

- - -

Once again, the Pokemon World managed another rotation on it's own axis, signifying the beginning of a new day.

Dawn broke out and Dawn awoke (the first thing she did was check her hair) – she had managed to sleep for quite a long time that day, and her leg seemed to have regained quite a lot of it's energy.

Quietly putting on her hat, she peered around the campsite. Brock was lazing off in his usual position – near a nice big tree. Ash was sleeping soundly (with Pikachu by his side of course) near the now exhausted campfire, with May right on the opposite site – only that she wasn't there.

Curious, Dawn tried to lift herself up with the support of her legs – unsuccessfully. She tried it once more – and managed to stand up, although a little pain still persisted as her damaged leg protested in agony.

The young coordinator surveyed the surroundings carefully. She spotted a distinctive sign of blue and white among the common green, a little far away in an open clearing.

Limping slightly, she slowly walked over to that sign of blue. Her guess was correct as it did turn out to be the other coordinator whom she was looking for.

But – May didn't look up to her, or welcome her. In fact, she didn't seem to have noticed. She was busy staring up at the sky, clearly lost in thought.

Dawn didn't want to disturb her either. Her leg was screaming for rest again – she obeyed it and quietly lay down next to May, not making a sound.

The Sun had nearly crossed the horizon by now. It's orange tinge began to fade as light shone upon the two coordinators' bodies.

'Morning' Dawn.' May said gently, finally realizing that it was Dawn who was next to her.

'Good Morning May!' Dawn said happily, now looking at her new friend. 'What were you doing here all alone?' she asked, curious.

'Just thinking...' May replied, although that wasn't all she wanted to say.

Dawn seemed to realize that there was something she had been hiding. She wanted to know what it was – curiosity was just nature after all.

'Listen May,' she began, 'If you need to tell me something – I'm all ears. There's no need to worry!'

May looked at Dawn, first surprised, then expectant. She was a _girl _after all – and she might know what to do.

The air around them slowly began to warm up. That feeling of the morning sun and the calming temperature soothed her a little.

'Well Dawn...' May trailed off, not knowing where to begin. Dawn placed her hand on top of May's in order to encourage her a little. May glanced at her Poketch briefly – it was Seven AM, and the boys would be waking up soon.

'You see Dawn, there's this strange emptiness I've felt since I came here to Sinnoh. I'm feeling so out of place – like there's something big going on but I can't explain it.' May explained, her eyes going in and out of focus.

'Don't worry, we _all _feel that right now – there's a disaster waiting to happen, but I know that we'll make it through somehow. _Someone will find us.' _Dawn replied in a reassuring manner. This was the truth though. She was certain that everyone was getting this feeling of, shall we put it - 'intimacy with darkness'. Retrospectively, it was kind of like what she had felt when she had gotten close to Darkrai during the space-time incident.

What she didn't know was that May's unknowingly enhanced 'Aura Sense' had made her more sensitive to it – and she wasn't able to completely subdue it like Ash – who was constantly dreaming about the upcoming Sinnoh League - which promptly took his mind away from everything else.

But deciding that it wasn't necessary to make Dawn worry or to bring herself to an awkward position, she simply smiled, thanked Dawn, and helped her to walk back to the camp.

Surprisingly, the boys were up, and Brock was already in the process of preparing that group's breakfast.

'Ash's gone to find us water.' he answered, seeing May's inquiring look. May nodded, and went off to follow him in the direction where Brock had pointed his finger. Dawn on the other hand, was constrained by her leg – and of course, by Brock's insistence on her getting enough rest.

- - -

Around the same time, at a little distance away from the quartet, that same young woman had just finished eating a scrumptious breakfast.

She and her charge – the sea blue, tear shaped pokemon Manaphy – were out following Rayquaza's directions. Smiling at the sight of Manaphy fondly gobbling up a watermelon slice, she proceeded to quickly pack up all of her traveling gear – some of it standard (like a tent, some basic cooking equipment, clothes...), but some of it serving a more advanced purpose.

This included a rather compact but complicated sensor device whose primary role was navigation via the Global Positioning System. It could also sense Aura frequencies and display weather reports.

However, none of these were of any utility at the moment – The sudden weather change disrupted navigation signals and interfered with mechanical Aura detection - It was a good thing that she had the ability to sense it by herself.

Apart from these, there was a cellphone (which again, wasn't working right now), and a yellow Poketch on her right wrist.

'Mana!' exclaimed the sea blue pokemon as it finished taking in the last watermelon slice. It seemed rather satisfied with it's breakfast and wore a smile on it's face, emitting an innocent happiness.

'Want some more?' she said, still smiling at the charming little pokemon.

The Seafaring pokemon shook it's head playfully – it was quite satisfied.

'Let's get going then.'

Manaphy looked up as the Grand Coordinator took an ultraball out of her pocket. Expanding it to the normal size, she threw it into the air.

The energy inside changed to reveal an illustrious Dragonite. This one was unusually well groomed and had a glamorous appearance. Nevertheless, it's muscles were visibly noticeable.

With a friendly greeting to her Dragonite, the Grand Coordinator hopped onto it's back, with the air of being someone to have done this a thousand times. She motioned for Manaphy to hop into her lap.

The Seafaring pokemon complied, and eagerly hopped on, awaiting an adventure.

- - -

'I think that's enough for now.' Ash said, while he finished bottling up a water container.

His companion electric type had completed putting the lid on a smaller container as well.

'Well Pikachu, let go find these herbs which Brock was talking about.' Ash told his electric rodent while carefully extracting a pocket sized book entitled "_Breeder's Handbook". _

The Pokemon Trainer opened the "Human Medication" section which Brock had marked for him. He managed to discover the picture of the appropriate herb, with a title that said, "For Cuts and Sprains".

With a gesture to his pokemon, Ash and Pikachu carefully put the water containers under a rather noticeable Fir tree. They where just turning to leave when -

'Hey Ash! Pikachu!'

'Hi May.' said Ash, smiling at the sight of his friend. Pikachu gave her a cheerful wave.

'Where're you guys going?' May asked, taking not of the two water containers which were placed under the lone Fir tree.

'Looking for herbs for Dawn.' Ash answered. He paused for a moment, considering May.

'Wanna come with us?'

'Yeah, sure!' May exclaimed happily. The trio of Ash, May and Pikachu went out further away from the camp. With the handbook in his hand, and with Pikachu and May constantly peering over his shoulder to have a look at the herb's photo, and also around the forest they were in for the herb itself; Ash was certain that they would find it in no time.

Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other plans. The wind stubbornly refused to stop blowing at high speed. The Sun was getting blanketed by a layer of clouds again – they looked adequately black to cause a little worry. Worst of all, the blanket of fog had returned – no Rayquaza was close to provide an airlock.

Now, although it wasn't as bad as it was when Dawn fell, still -

'Ash, don't go too far.' May said, to her surprise, in a whisper. Something about the weather made her a little apprehensive.

All for good reason – the fog was acting unpredictable again, uncaring. It plunged through that area at a rather inconvenient time. This resulted in the two getting separated – although it wasn't for long.

May felt a warm, gentle but firm grip being exerted on her shoulders. Immediately, she whirled around once again sensing that indescribable exhilarating feeling – but not loosing it so quickly.

'Ash, is that you?' she whispered questioningly, even though she did not have an iota of doubt.

'Yeah, it's me.' he whispered back. He was quite close, but that was a warranted necessity right now – the fog was really thick – almost as if a literal blanket of solid snow was creating an opaque curtain all around them. The chill started to kick in too.

May gave a shudder – her clothes weren't exactly suited for this kind of weather. A moment later she felt her torso being covered with a rather warm jacket – it certainly did help her stop shivering, but along with it, she felt a kind of _liberating _sensation inside, as if she had just freed herself from the burden of procedural thinking – but that was only for a second. This procedural thinking told her that it was Ash who must have felt her shiver and handed her his jacket.

Her brain's right-half took over as she turned to open her mouth to protest, but that protest was unwarranted. Ash wasn't here any more – she felt a weight on her head. It was light, but it still radiated power – more like _electric _power. Pikachu's static force raised her hair level slightly, but that wasn't what was on her mind right now.

For now, she was glancing at the dim outline of the figure in front of her. It was Ash. She felt it. However, she also felt the presence of a strong force heading her way – and she somehow came to know that her friend had felt it too.

May felt like she was in a surreal dream – the entire stage of events was an endless cloudy mist. She felt time coagulate – and the events that followed seemed to have occurred in slow motion.

Suddenly, she felt the wind blow again. This time, it wasn't cold and unforgiving – it was warm and welcoming. The wind felt like it was accurately vectorized, landing down on her in the stroked motions of wing movement.

The fog's unforgiving nature immediately turned into beauty. This warm current of air blew fog away – and her vision became clearer.

She could see that Ash was ready, holding a pokeball – but even he was amazed at the breathtaking beauty of that sight. It was an immensely graceful Dragonite – mounted upon by an elegant woman who, in turn, carried a blue creature.

In that moment of landing, that blue creature and May made eye contact. Her neurons surged with electrical charges, instantly recognizing it with stupendous speed.

The Dragonite had landed. Manaphy proceeded on a parabolic course directly into the hands of a certain shocked coordinator.

The woman, meanwhile gave a brief, but warm smile at her Dragonite. She pulled out her Ultra Ball, retracting the Pokemon inside and then looked at it.

'I'll need to tell the Pokemon Council that we've performed the world's first non-computerized fog landing – with about Zero visibility.' she said warmly, winking at the Ultra Ball's eye.

Ash was startled, but he was unmoved.

'W-Who are you?' asked the trainer – with alertness, yet a little bit of childish curiosity.

The woman turned to face him. Ash was nearly awe struck as he thought he saw blue fluid patterns around her, and looked into her ever-illumine eyes.

'Bliss Aurora, PC Grand Coordinator.' her tone was soft and elegant. Everything about her seemed elegant.

'It's nice to meet you Ash Ketchum.' she finished, giving him a little wave.

* * *

So, May gets Manaphy back and they meet the GC? That's - something nice right? 


	9. An Inescapable Truth

A/N:

Thanks for all the reviews!

So now you've all met Bliss. BTW, PC stands for Pokemon Council.

I'll try my best to keep Bliss from turning into a Mary Sue – hope I get her characterization correct, she's not meant to be perfect in every way.

* * *

- - -

Chapter Nine: An Inescapable Truth

- - -

Approx. 0900 Hours,

20 km from Valor Lakefront Hotel

The ground began shaking.

Over the next twenty seconds, it began to accelerate, to the point where the uncontrolled shaking was sure to make anyone with in a kilometer of the epicenter fall flat on their feet.

However, this earthquake was anything but normal. Unlike those caused by regular tectonic activity, this one was the result of a Pokemon trying to emerge onto the Earth from the underground. Actually, that wasn't quite completely the case as we'll see a bit later. This pokemon wasn't ordinary in any way either – it was one of a kind. It's destiny drive wasn't just plain survival – Legendary Pokemon always serve a higher purpose. They are those who are blessed and cursed to maintain order in the Pokemon World.

And so they do maintain order – even though the Earth is but an infinitesimally small part of the Universe; life in the form of both humans and Pokemon requires balance – a counteract of the Alpha Pokemon's Second Law: that the universe, as a whole, would try to reach the highest state of disorder, known to humans as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Here though, it applied to more than just physical principles – it also represented The Balance between the Light and Dark shades to existence.

This Balance was always in permanent favor of the 'Light' shade of the world. This was only true, however, on the surface. When one looks into it deeply, there is really a light and dark side to the existence of everything. The disorder caused by this unruly side was kept in balance by the acts and existence of the Legendary Pokemon – a plan which the Original One devised on the life giving Earth – where Life proved to be a major disrupter in the Balance. We do not know what the system on other possible life giving worlds may be, but we do know that, occasionally, the disruption also spreads out (ironically) to the keepers of The Balance.

Whenever the disrupter did effect these preservers, which was, in human eyes, a rare event; the effect of it could be felt to the rest of the world.

And because Humans were often involved, either directly of indirectly in the spread of imbalance, it was the task of humans alone to rectify this disruption. This is nothing more than a personalization of the Light and Dark shades of existence, the permutation of the natural order of Balance and change.

- - -

'And so, that's about it. No, wait there's more...' Bliss finished, later contradicting herself - it was a habit which was caused by her brain racing ahead of her mouth. The explanation was made much simpler, obviously, as her audience comprised of only one adult, the rest being teens – their mind not fully ready for dwelling into deep philosophical and metaphysical avenues of thought.

Ironically enough, it was Dawn (the youngest) who seemed to have been enlightened the most by it, apart from Brock of course – she seemed to have made the connection quicker than others. Maybe that's a side-effect of listening to Pokemon Poetry so regularly.

The Sun was high up in the sky about now, signifying mid day. The Grand Coordinator wasn't finished of course; she still had some explaining to do of how this rather philosophical lesson was related, in any way, to the weird weather occurrences, it wasn't really all that complicated once you got the gist of it.

Speaking of the said injury, Dawn had recovered remarkably fast – those herbs which Brock had prescribed sure had been effective. Not to mention that Bliss was quite skilled at tending wounds, _'I've got my share of them – so have my friends. Trust me, they weren't a pretty sight'_. That reminded Ash and May of their first meeting a few hours ago – she was rather clumsy over herself.

- - -

_Some Time Ago..._

'How did you know my name?' Ash started, rather surprised. He was, however, quite suddenly interrupted by an overjoyed May, who quickly pushed him aside, upsetting his balance.

The trainer couldn't quite hear the next part, but it involved things like 'Thanks for finding Manaphy!' and 'You're my idol!' ... right down to 'I love you!'. It was a never ending series of exclamations.

Ash groaned as he looked up at the Grand Coordinator. She was having an expected embarrassed look while at the same time, her eye was twitching. She was able to correctly recall May's name though, having seen her perform at the Grand Festival in Kanto. Brushing the younger coordinator aside, she walked over to Ash.

At least she tried to, when she tumbled down again. May's expression at that time was priceless and indescribable.

'Sorry, that happens to me when I'm embarrassed.' Bliss, her expression not changing a bit, told them.

'I'm here to explain something important and to request you to do me a ... favor.'

'What kind of favor?' Ash asked, obviously surprised. He wasn't as enthralled as May was of course (though he definitely knew one _other _person who would go fangirly on the GC _to no end_), but he was genuinely interested in Bliss asking him something that _she _as the _Grand Coordinator _was unable to do – needing _his _help for doing it.

Of course, his ego accepted that gratefully, but fortunately, he wasn't quite conscious at the moment about what was going on in his mind beneath the layers of his thoughts. He had even managed to forget about the impending Sinnoh League – if only for a few seconds.

'All in good time.' was the minimalistic reply.

Bliss started walking, her eyes fixed on the ground, searching. This was the first time that our favorite duo noticed the absence of fog after meeting her. It was quite astonishing how quickly the weather seemed to change around here – whether by natural or unnatural influences, that they were about to find out.

They were soon at the site of the 'mark' which Ash and Pikachu had made earlier. Luckily, nothing had happened to the water containers and all. Naturally, Ash and May was surprised at how Bliss came to know of their location, much less how she managed to navigate to it.

'How did you -' They began, interrupted as Bliss pointed to the ground. What they saw was an easily distinguishable trail of two bootprints, three at the site of the water canisters – the additional one belonging to Pikachu.

'When you've been training for as long as I have, you'll begin interpreting seemingly meaningless details like these.' she explained, giving a brief smile. Glancing back, her eyes fluttering as she grinned at the two young trainers.

'Are you two like, a couple?' she asked, her voice containing elements of curiosity as well as a little of, shall we say, a mockery-_like_ emotion.

Predictably; both Ash and May had their upper anatomy change to resemble the color of tomato ketchup. The suddenly realized that they were still holding hands from earlier (surprise, surprise!) and consequently, they let go immediately, heads turning away as if the motion of denial wasn't quite adequate.

Bliss shrugged.

'A shame really, your biochemistry seems to be near perfect – and it's not like holding hands is obnoxious, it's _blissful._' There was an emphasis on the last words, accompanied by a wink directed to Pikachu (who was on Ash's head, as usual) and Manaphy (who was walking closely besides May). Your guess is as good as mine on that one.

This comment, unknown to the two young trainers was slowly, but surely, being assimilated by their subconscious mind, which was delicately processing it. How exactly is unknown as it's a subconscious process after all, but it does have repercussions in the real world: as you can probably guess, and there will be a time in the very near future that it's effect will be felt.

But this isn't the time for it – yet.

The brief conversation was followed by a predictable and uncomfortable silence among the trio. When they arrived at the camp, the predictable silence was followed by a predictable outbreak from a certain blue-haired coordinator, who had to be held firmly by an equally stunned Breeder to prevent further injury to her leg. Dawn noted the strange incident of Brock not making a 'dash' for Bliss, but she only reminded herself that this was probably because it was common knowledge that the GC was already married, if only quite recently.

After the pleasantries were over where Dawn and Brock were introduced and re-introduced respectively to a certain blue Pokemon, as well as them welcoming Bliss into their camp. Bliss, noticing the result of Dawn's unfortunate encounter with the rock that hurt her, immediately took out a herb which looked suspiciously like the one Brock had asked Ash to find.

'**Calendula officinalis**.' Bliss explained to the others while Brock nodded.

'I asked Ash to find some to help with Dawn's injuries. I thought they might be here in this forest – this is the right season and temperature they grow in so...' Brock trailed off, watching Bliss carefully unravel it's covering without damaging the leaf.

'I can tell that you're an amazing breeder Brock.' Bliss said, smiling, promptly causing a mild discoloration on the Breeder's face. 'Not many people have a good practical knowledge about what works with both humans and Pokemon. Incidentally, I found these leaves,' She indicated, 'in this forest yesterday.'

With expert motions, she swiftly but neatly, tied the herb around Dawn's sprained ankle, motioning to Brock who promptly and firmly tied a cloth around the said area; Dawn flinched a bit in discomfort, but later released a sigh of satisfaction. She seemed to be quite a bit flustered at being treated personally by the Grand Coordinator.

'There.' Brock finished. 'You'll be better in no time.'

'Thanks Bliss, Brock.' Dawn smiled.

'You're welcome Dawn.' Bliss replied. 'Now I know that I've got some explaining to do about why I'm here and all, but first, even though it may sound strange, I've got to see all of your Pokemon.'

Bliss knew that this was rather personal, but she had to be sure about it. She had to see whether her assumption was correct.

Our quartet shrugged, but let out their pokemon all the same. Several flashed of energy later, the groups pokemon (quite a lot of them now) were all in line (apart from Manaphy who was in May's hands), gazing curiously at the strangely dressed, although quite beautiful newcomer.

This 'newcomer', in turn, politely and expertly checked all of them, her eyes taking in every single detail about their appearance and health while her brain processed this and quickly organized them according to type and species.

Unnoticed by the rest of them, Bliss's sapphire blue eyes rested for a moment longer on the last Pokemon she saw – the newest member of the team, Ash's Riolu.

'_I knew it._' She thought, smiling mentally. She motioned for the quartet to come closer with their Pokemon as she sat on a comfortable rock pausing for a moment before suggesting that it was better for the pokemon to hear what she was going to say too.

This was odd, considering that Pokemon could see and hear the events of the outside world quite well in their state of suspended animation inside the pokeball. The reason was merely that she had become accustomed to equality between humans and pokemon, and she considered it disrespectful towards the Pokemon not to allow them out on such an important announcement. It was a matter of principle.

'It all began, with the Alpha Pokemon Arceus - a pokemon who I would love to meet, if he weren't living in another dimension...'

- - -

_Back to Present time..._

'Wait a minute, what does all this have to do with Manaphy here?' May asked with genuine inquisitiveness, pointing to the sea blue pokemon in her lap while she spoke.

Manaphy was ... unperturbed to say at the least. It was undoubtably glad being back with it's "Mother" and it's emotions were clearly visible on it's face. However, to say that he wasn't interested in what Bliss had to say was an understatement. The Prince of the Sea still retained that innocent curiosity of a child, enhanced by the fact that the GC had taken excellent care of her when she was in her charge.

'I'm getting to that May.' Bliss answered with a smile.

'Now, I believe that you're the ones who saw the event that happened a little under a year ago in the Hoenn region: the fight between the ancient Pokemon Groudon - creator of land and Kyogre - the creator of the sea?'

Ash, May and Brock - the three who had been there to witness it nodded, confirming what she had said, recalling memories at the same time.

'Yeah, Ash told me about it.' Dawn answered. Ash had told her about many of his adventures - his journey through the Kanto League, the Orange Islands and the long winded route through Johto with Misty, the Hoenn League and the Battle Frontier with May, Max and Brock; she had to admit it was a journey of a lifetime and deep inside, she felt really lucky to be traveling along with Ash Ketchum: the person who guaranteed adventure (not to mention trouble).

'How did you come to know about it?' Brock popped up, an inevitable question it was.

Bliss chuckled and turned to Ash. 'You know, you weren't the only ones trying to save the world. Someone else was with you too.'

It took just a moment for the realization to hit the quartet.

'LANCE!' they exclaimed, finishing their deduction at nearly the same time.

'Yup. Lance.' Bliss smiled. 'Lance is a very good friend of mine. We were traveling buddies for awhile when I was touring the Kanto contest circuit. He told me about you guys when I met him at the Elite Four conference last year.'

'Anyway, that's how I got to know you. Somehow, I became really interested in your case Ash. It's amazing how much you've managed to accomplish in such a short time as a trainer - not in the form of League Victories, but in the form of, let's say, Humanitarian Victories. There's only one other person I know who's achieved this...and more.' That last sentence was accompanied by a happy smile.

Unlikely, but true, Ash's face didn't show a single expression of pride or egoism, he simply offered a weak smile - after all it was true wasn't it? Coming from the Grand Coordinator, it only made these efforts all the more worth it. Of course, there wasn't really anything the rest of the group could say at this - but their thoughts spoke for themselves, silently thanking Ash for the number of times he had saved their lives, even though Destiny had made his road so rough - yet happy.

'Anyway, the damage which Team Aqua and Magma did was resolved and restored, or so it seemed. Groudon went back and dug deep under the Earth, going for another god-knows-how-long slumber.' Bliss continued.

'Wait! Do you mean that there's only one Groudon in the whole world?' Dawn interjected.

'Yes and No. There's only one _true_Groudon in _our_world; there may be others, but the original - created by Arceus Himself - is the strongest. He is the true preserver of the Balance. The same is true for most other legendary pokemon as well.'

'So,' Bliss went on, 'Groudon went back home, but Kyogre was still active and roaming the sea. I got confirmation for this from the Ranger network. They gave the Pokemon Council a report about the Manaphy and Sea Temple incident which happened not too long ago. Let's just say it was of special importance to me because it was about you Ash, and remember that I was researching on you.'

'So, that's how you knew about me too?' May asked.

Bliss nodded, and gave May a special wink. It was quite clear to May what that wink meant - _That's why I said you and Ash would make a good couple. _The younger coordinator blushed at this, although it wasn't noticed by anyone except Pikachu.

'Now, Kyogre has a rivalry of sorts with all ground type Pokemon. Since Groudon is the biggest and best of them all, it makes him Kyogre's natural rival. You got that?'

The quartet and their pokemon gave a quick nod before Bliss continued.

'With Groudon now out of commission and back home, Kyogre began instinctively searching for another powerful enemy. Two guesses for telling whom it found.' Bliss paused, looking at the group for answers.

'Rayquaza?' Ash guessed.

'No, Rayquaza is actually the leader of our ancient trio - it's job is to keep them in check. It also took a part-time job about protecting the skies due to Ho-oh's absence, but that's another story.' Bliss sighed, this wasn't the time for longer explanations. She didn't want to go into the currently irrelevant details about how she became friends with Rayquaza when she was traveling with Cynthia in the old days.

'How about Heatran?' Dawn asked sweetly.

'Yes. It's Heatran - the Pokemon of the stark mountain. That giant, powerful turtle was the next natural enemy for our water type creator. Unfortunately, Kyogre doesn't realize that Stark Mountain's heat influences ocean currents and keeps Sinnoh from becoming snowland.'

Dawn looked sad at that. She didn't want her homeland to be perpetually covered with unmelting snow did she? No Sinnoh native would want that - except maybe those living at Snowpoint City. But that made her realize something she had read in her geography book back when she was still in school.

'Isn't Stark Mountain like, on another island north of Sunnyshore City? How could Heatran get here then, it can't swim!' Dawn retorted.

'There is an ancient underground tunnel that Heatran dug which connects Stark Mountain and emerges somewhere near Valor Lakefront. It goes under the seabed. Apparently, Heatran crossed over here from there, my guess is that it just arrived here - leaving as soon as it sensed Kyogre's presence a few weeks ago. After all, the tunnel is several hundred miles long.'

Dawn nodded slowly as she processed the information. It fell in place perfectly now, except -

'What's Manaphy's role in this?' she queried.

'Manaphy is supposed to have the ability to control all the water pokemon, Kyogre included.' Bliss looked up at the sky. It was still overcast although you could tell that it was already noon by now. The wind was still chilly though, but that isn't going to interrupt this story.

'Those storms...' the others looked up at the sky too, '...they're Kyogre's way of saying "I challenge you to a battle."'

'Not good.' said Ash, shaking his head. He knew from experience that these battles were catastrophic even if they were spectacular.

'Yes, that's why I'm here.'

'So, all we have to do is get Manaphy to calm Kyogre down?' May asked her superior, who in turn bit her lip, her answer reassuring but not absolute.

'I hope so.'


	10. The Diverge

A/N: Where are all the other reviewers gone, eh? Please give some kind of an input if you're reading this fic: I'll try to improve it accordingly.

Notice the change in genre: It's now Sci-Fi/Friendship, reflecting the decision I've taken to change the way the story will proceed. Now, It's still going to have advanceshipping in it, but Dawn, Bliss and maybe Brock are going to be vital for the plot…find out how!

* * *

Chapter Ten: The Diverge

_Evil. What exactly is Evil?_

_Can Evil be defined as the opposite of Good?_

_But then, what is Good - is it just the opposite of Evil?_

_Man, this is damn confusing…_

Bliss shook her head. Now wasn't the time to dwell into these philosophies - she had to focus on the matter at hand: If Kyogre was allowed its way then Sinnoh would become an icicle – however unintentional it was on its part. As strong as the Legendary Heatran is, it cannot possibly win against the Lord of water pokemon, can it? The type disadvantage really strikes deep here; and they weren't about to let that happen: it was a circumstance caused by Humans who meddled with what they shouldn't have.

She turned back to the young coordinator in front of her, staring into her eyes as the two different shades of blue contacted (although the difference was one of intensity – the colors were identical); and their Aura interacted. Bliss had the expertise to sense that this Aura was undoubtedly one fueled by a catalyst - in this case it was Riolu. It was best if she avoided the topic of Aura right now - she understood it better than most people, but she was a specialist in Biotechnology and Pokemon Behavior: it's better to leave Aura to a Physicist.

'So, that's what the plan is?' May asked her contemporary quietly while the others were busy packing up camp. She could recognize it - although unconsciously - that the GC had an Aura pattern which was quite familiar ... yet so developed. She couldn't quite place it, however - and this wasn't the time to ask. In fact, she really wanted to query on something else that was itching her insides.

'That's what the plan is.' Bliss acknowledged. She could very well guess what was coming next, smiling, she asked, 'Anything else?'

'Um...' May began, slightly embarrassed. She could feel the heat rushing up her face as she collected the thought. A push of courage made her blurt out the words which were waiting at the tip of her tongue.

'D-Did you really mean that A-Ash and I would, you know...' she finished, flustering.

'It's only natural.' came the reply. Bliss took this as her cue and went over to help to others, leaving May alone with Manaphy in her arms - and her thoughts in her head.

Shrugging these thoughts aside for now, May went over to assist the packing procedure: only to find out that it was all finished and everyone was ready – except for Ash and Dawn that is.

'No, you're not walking – your leg's not good enough yet.' Ash told Dawn - his resolve adamant.

'I'm coming and there's nothing you can do stop me!' Dawn retorted angrily, getting up and balancing herself on her undamaged leg carefully – although she winced slightly, and Ash noticed that.

'See! You're in NO CONDITION to come!' Ash argued back. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he was thoroughly enjoying this "conversation" for some odd reason; perhaps it was his brotherly relationship with Dawn or that he was finally getting a chance to subdue her stubborn nature. In his heart, he really did appreciate Dawn's confidence and will to help them out – but it was only going to hinder them in this case and he didn't want that - not to mention that it wouldn't be good for the young Coordinator's recovery process.

'Aww, come on Ash – there's no need to worry!' Dawn said pleadingly, changing her tactics. No doubt she thought that her "irresistible cuteness" would easily convince anyone of anything: and it was kind of true really – it was just that Ash was immune to that kind of thing most of the times.

This was one of those times.

'Alright guys, hold it.' Brock intervened, interrupting the fight for a moment while the two individuals locked in the debate glared angrily at him – obviously infuriated over someone trying to calm them down. Brock subconsciously took a step backwards: those Electric blue and Amber eyes could be intimidating when they wanted to be.

'Dawn's injury isn't fully healed yet…' the Breeder chose his next few words _very _carefully, 'so I suggest that she should rest here for a _little _while and the others should move onto the Lakefront hotel. I'll stay with her until she can walk.'

Brock bit his tongue inside his mouth. Even though he was, by far, the oldest of the group – he needed to be really cautious with the youngest. She was usually cheerful and bubbly, but she did know how to make things ugly: especially considering her present argumentative relationship with Ash – even though both of them deeply cared for each other and they knew it.

Dawn was not beyond understanding. In fact, she seemed to have become really mature for age during the course of her travels: the initial contest losses, Ash and Brock's influence, as well as her determination to progress foreword – these were some of the many factors which had helped in that cause. Only in some situations, like the one she was facing now, did her stubborn side take over – but not for long, nor was it in in total control. When these fragments of her personality collided; she usually exhibited the easiest and most painless solution to the dilemma– silent indecisiveness.

Brock took this as a cue to continue.

'So, I guess Dawn agrees with that.' He judged, although there was a trace of caution in his voice.

Bliss and May were watching the whole fiasco with a slight knowing smirk on faces. The former, however, had something to add – probably something that would make Dawn happy. She took out a familiar Ultra Ball – the same one which May and Ash had seen earlier. Without a word, she tossed it in the air where it opened to reveal a flash of light.

This energy instantly converted into the large shape of the orange-cream dragon which she had ridden on earlier.

'Brock, Dawn.' She called, and the two looked at her, with a brief glance at the Dragonite. 'When you're feeling fit to travel Dawn, you can hop on my Dragonite with Brock. It'll find me, so don't worry about that.'

Brock nodded silently, while Dawn murmured a silent "Thanks". She was really grateful for this, but the proper emotion just didn't seem to come out right now. Bliss, however, seemed to understand (the others were oblivious to the reason for this: which was her ability to detect Aura and the subsequent changes in emotional patterns) and proceeded to have a word with Dragonite – which gave an optimistic grunt of approval.

'See you soon at the Lakefront Hotel guys!' Bliss exclaimed, as she motioned to Ash and May, who proceeded to follow her along with Pikachu and Manaphy, also waving a temporary goodbye.

The trio proceeded to walk down the long winded path leading to the Valor Lakefront hotel, not really all that far away now – maybe just a day away on foot.

But that reminded Ash of something – just three weeks were left until the Sinnoh League commenced, and he still had his last badge to win. He really needed to _rush _after this entire fiasco was over – but that was that. He didn't have the power to change the events that occurred to him: but he did have the ability to affect their outcomes which would lead to different roads; it was ironical how destiny worked sometimes.

* * *

Kyogre rose to the surface, his mammoth body heaving the waves of the sea apart as if they were nothing. The Legendary creator of the oceans gave a deep, infrasonic rumble – inaudible to the normal human ear but not to Pokemon.

The water-types in the vicinity of that area fled swiftly, away from the impending danger that was to come by Kyogre's power.

This time, he was fully awake, alert and conscious: not like that fight with his _fifth column. _There both he and his adversary had barely regained full consciousness from their eons-long slumber. Now he was going to attack in the apogee of his power: the culmination being earth-shattering - literally.

But…there was something holding him back. Memories of long disposed times: a voice of such power and majesty that all bowed down before the nameless….but that was another time, this is different.

This was instinct. The nemesis. The confrontation for superiority.

Instinct was Kyogre's _Casus belli_ for now; he waited till his rival approached him, as water emptied from the sea, proceeding upwards to form the dark fluff we call storm clouds, as the hydrological cycle intensified.

* * *

**1800 Hours,**

**5 Km from Valor Lakefront Hotel **

'That was good.' Bliss commented. She had asked Ash to demonstrate his Pokemon's skills – Staravia was promptly asked by his trainer to find them a place to camp for the night. The Bird managed to do so with impressive speed: it pinpointed a suitable spot in only a few minutes.

'Thanks. I've trained it so…' Ash said proudly, his ego getting the better of it.

'Watch your Ego, mister.' May teased, decolorizing Ash due to embarrassment.

'Oh yeah? Watch this.' Ash retorted. He went over to Bliss who now was patiently gazing up at the dark sky – the sun wasn't visible at all, and she had decided to stop and camp for the night. Even though the Hotel was a stone's throw away, it was inadvisable to travel in an unpredictable weather condition. Certainly, her short six-hour journey with the two teens was memorable. She had learnt far more about the kind of person Ash was, and also about her younger contemporary, May. They were interesting characters, kind of reminding Bliss about herself when she was younger.

She could sense the bonds of Aura uniting them. It was really strong – made stronger by the Riolu catalyst for sure – and doubtless that would lead to interesting consequences in the future. For now, she sensed Ash approaching him, although she didn't react.

'Hey Bliss!' Ash called out cheerfully, yet confidently. Bliss responded by giving him an inquiring look.

'Wanna have a Pokemon Battle?' Bliss smiled. She knew this was coming, and she knew what she was going to say.

'I'd love to Ash but I've got only two Pokemon right now – I came here on short notice and Dragonite's with Brock and Dawn.' Bliss said, before moving on quickly, 'However….'

'Yes?' Ash asked impatiently.

'We could have a Tag Battle – you and May against me. Four Pokemon total – how does that sound?' Bliss finished. It would be interesting to see what came next.

'Let's start than. You have the honor guys!'

Our duo looked at each other, and then nodded. In perfect sync, now hard-wired into them by their first (embarrassing) Tag Battle experience, they called out their Pokemon: Ash brought forth his faithful bird Staravia – it was actually still outside, so it just came down by his side, assuming battle stance. Pikachu and Manaphy cheered along the sidelines.

'_Smart.' _Bliss thought. '_I don't know whether he knows what he's doing, but Staravia is boosted by the fact that it has had time to stretch its wings before battle.'_

May contemplated her choices for a moment before launching her Blaziken. She knew that power would be required for this one – she could sense that Bliss wasn't going to take this as a contest battle with Ash – she would prefer Ash being in his own element. Nevertheless, she could expect spectacular moves from the GC – grace and beauty would be infused in her Pokemon by now, no matter what kind of battle they fight.

Bliss smiled at her opponents' choices. She took out the only two Ultraballs she had at the moment and flung them forwards;

'Ditto, Lucario: Let's Ride the Storm!'

Out popped a pinkish, shapeless blob which looked like it could change its shape – which, incidentally, it could.

Alongside it was a fox-like bipedal warrior of Aura: a force to be reckoned with as he was built for fighting. He seemed very wise by nature – and felt wholly different from the Lucario which Ash and May had seen back at Cameron Palace. For one, it was clearly an alternate color Pokemon – with red stripes and label where the blue should have been. It also seemed to have a glossier coat – but that was probably the result of excellent caretaking.

There was no lack of spirit or confidence in Lucario's eyes – even though he knew that he was at a disadvantage against both his opponent Pokemon. Reaching back into his mind, he activated in Aura sense, extending his ear-like projections on both sides of his head.

'_I'm ready, Milady.' _He communicated to his trainer telepathically, while his partner assumed battle stance.

* * *

_RANGERNET, MAY 22 - 2050_

_#B-2050-L-02_

_Initialized…1700 Hours_

_Secure (Quantum Key) – Penumbra Access only_

**Name:** Heatran (Prime)

**Classification:** Lava Dome Pokemon (Legendary; Form 3)

**Definition: **

It dwells in volcanic caves. It digs in with its cross-shaped feet to crawl on ceilings and walls.

**Type: **Fire/Steel

V.

**Name:** Kyogre (Prime)

**Classification:** Sea Basin Pokemon (Legendary; Form 2)

**Definition:**

It is said to have widened the seas by causing downpours. It had been asleep in a marine trench.

**Type: **Water

**PC Presence:**

Bliss M. Aurora – GC Class I, (Umbra Certified),

Goldenrod City,

Johto (F)

Brock Takeshi, (Unofficial) Class III General Breeder (Plus Crucial Certification),

Pewter City,

Kanto (M)

**PLA Presence:**

Ash Ketchum, (Unofficial) Class IV Trainer (Hyper Crucial Certification)

Pallet Town,

Kanto (M)

**PCA Presence:**

May Crestora, (Unofficial) Class IV Coordinator (Plus Crucial Certification),

Petalburg City,

Hoenn (F)

Dawn Kamiya, (Unofficial) Class V Coordinator (Super Crucial Certification),

Twinleaf Town,

Sinnoh (F)

**Objective(s): **Uncertain. Stop Kyogre…(?)

**Status:** In Progress.

_Monitoring in progress. Awaiting Report…_

A/N:

The Ranger Net seems pretty weird doesn't it? Rest assured, it's there for a purpose.

So this was mostly filler – though you get a gist of the Characters ranking and stuff…I'm not going into the details of that (yet), but I think you can get an idea.

BTW, Dawn's surname is sort-of like a tribute to Kari Kamiya and subsequently Digimon –they both share the same first name in the Japanese version.

And Yes - Dawn is classified as being more important than May.

I wonder why that is…


	11. Inverted Momentum

A/N:

I'm glad to see new readers. Thanks for the reviews and keep reading!

Dawn's got a higher rank because of Mesprit you say? Partly, but don't forget, she was involved in Movie 10. Details will be clear as the story proceeds.

I'd like to explain a bit about RangerNet record classification which I'm probably not going to elaborate on in the story:

Take the record for this incident: _#B-2050-L-02_

The First field, "B" represents the threat level. Here is a list of threat levels in Rangernet:

"A" - Extinction Level Event; the integrity of the whole world is at stake.

Example: The Space-Time Disruption (Movie 10), The Legendary Birds Incident (Movie 2)

"B" -Major Continental Disruption Event; where the safety of a major region is at risk.

Example: The event described in this story.

"C" -Metropolitan Disaster Event; Something which threatens to destroy a City, Town, Forest or is a danger to a large number of living things.

Example: Most of the movies – Celebi (Movie 4), Sea Temple (Movie 9) etc.

"D" -Other Damaging Event.

"N" -Non-Damaging event; Includes interesting scientific phenomenon exhibited by Pokemon.

"U" -Unclassified.

So, breaking down_#B-2050-L-02,_we get:

"B" Level Event

Occurs in the year 2050

"L" – Involves legendary Pokemon

It's the second such event which occurred this year.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Inverted Momentum

* * *

_Fate isn't Destiny. Nor is Destiny, Fate._

_Even though there are significant similarities, Fate is a belief in lack of control over Destiny, while Destiny is the ultimate consequence of our complicated actions._

_Life is, physically, an aggregate of atoms. The Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Mechanics prevents us from accurately identifying the path of a single particle, but we can find the overall trends in the flow._

_Can this hold true for human beings too? Or is their Destiny supremely determined and guided by some immeasurable higher power?_

_Does Aura resonate so rhythmically that it would or would not alter the Fate of an individual? Does that individual not influence the world around him – with both positive and negative energy?_

_Was Ash fated to meet Misty, May, Brock, Dawn … and all his friends – or were they simply at the right place at the right time?_

_What is luck anyway?_

_So many questions, only vague answers…_

* * *

RANGERNET, MAY 22 – 2050

_AURA DETECTION SYSTEM_

_#C-2049-L-04_

_Initialized…1800 Hours._

_Related Incident of record __#B-2050-L-02,__ (Title: 2049 Sea Temple Incident.)_

**Reported By:**

Ranger JackWalker,

Ringtown,

Fiore

**Status: **Open, Unsecure.

**Phantom, the Pirate,**

Known Criminal Record (check #10342 for details)

**Special Note(s):** Specialized in Sea Theft - Possibly a genetically enhanced criminal.

**Status:** Missing, Presumed to be KIA.

Phantom's Associates.

Threat Level: 6/10

V.

**Name: **Manaphy (IV)

**Classification:**Seafaring Pokémon, Legendary (Form 5)

**Definition:**

Born on a cold seafloor, it will swim great distances to return to its birthplace.

**Type: **Water

**Name:** Kyogre (Prime)

**Classification:** Sea Basin Pokémon (Legendary; Form 2)

**Definition:**

It is said to have widened the seas by causing downpours. It had been asleep in a marine trench.

**Type: **Water

Other Water Pokémon in the vicinity. A well coordinated attack was launched.

**PC Presence:**

Jack Walker – Ranger Rank 10

(Click to see complete human presence…)

**Mission Status:**Phantom was defeated with the combined assault of water Pokémon, led by Manaphy (IV) and Kyogre (Prime).

Manaphy is believed to have a close bond with May Crestora (From Aura Traction, Jack Walker's report), Certification extended to Super Crucial.

Confirmation of Kyogre's continued presence was recorded.  
Ash Ketchum's status upgraded to Ultra Crucial Certification – UPDATE: He achieved Hyper Crucial Certification due to his involvement with the Space-Time Disruption (#A-2049-L-01) and the 2050 Giratina incident (#B-2050-L-01).

(Click to see further Details…)

**Special Status: **This was the first incident tracked by the recently installed Aura Traction System.

* * *

'Aura Sphere!' Bliss commanded. She didn't say the name of the target aloud: she knew that Lucario would know what was coming next. The Aura Pokémon was diverse in his skill: being tended to and perfected by two of the world's best trainers. Without a doubt, Lucario alone would be enough to defeat what he was facing right now.

But Bliss didn't want to finish the battle so quickly; what's the fun in that? Plus, she had to be careful not to get any Pokémon hurt badly: that was something which they couldn't afford.

Meanwhile, Lucario prepared up a glowing ball of mystic blue energy. He didn't release it though: he knew what was coming next.

'Ditto, augment Transform!' Bliss instructed, as the blob of pink shone with light and … jumped into Lucario's blue sphere.

'_What the…'_went the thoughts of Ash and May. Ditto had disappeared from sight, and Lucario's Aura Sphere was now a violent emerald in color. Wasting no time, he released it, causing the opposing duo to snap back to reality and order evasive tactics.

What they didn't expect, was the emerald orb splitting into two – in mid air. Its trajectory altered, now angled perfectly and proceeded to critically hit both Staravia and Blaziken.

The Bird and the Humanoid Warrior struggled to get up on their trainer's prompting, and were successful. Somehow, the Aura Sphere's power wasn't divided when the attack impacted: this mystery was resolved as the shining form of Ditto landed neatly back at its trainer's feet.

'You see,' Bliss explained, 'Specialized attacks can be used in ways other than just attacking. If you think of Battles as an extension of contest appeals, you'll get the creative spark necessary to combine attacks.' She observed her opponents Pokémon carefully before continuing, 'A little knowledge of physics and Pokémon attacks isn't bad either.'

The Duo nodded as they moved on to announce their next command. Thinking tactically now, they tried an all-out attack move.

'Blaziken, Blaze Kick Lucario!'

'Staravia, hide that with Whirlwind'

'_Bad move Ash.'_Bliss thought. She didn't even need to say anything to defend her Pokémon. In case of any other opponent, Ash's strategy would have worked well – but then again, all his opponents cannot sense Aura, can they?

The Grand Coordinator's suspicions were confirmed when the Whirlwind cleared; neither Lucario nor Ditto could be seen anywhere, although Bliss had a pretty good idea where they were – Trick number…well, that's hard to keep track of. Not surprisingly, a very confused duo of a Bird and a Humanoid Fire-type stood in the center of the field, looking around for their opponents.

Predictably (for Bliss at least), they fell due to gravity's prompt influence, perpendicular to their intended targets on the ground. Not only did Lucario sense that attack, it also utilized momentum from the circular Whirlwind to project itself and Ditto towards the sky.

Now was the correct time to act.

'Lucario, Extremespeed!' Bliss said calmly, pulling her gaze from her falling Pokémon to those of her new friends. 'Ditto, pull back for a bit; direct your course 110 degrees right!' she added, quickly calculating her relative position to her nearly-at-the-ground Pokémon. This was important so that her Transformation Pokémon didn't end up at the wrong side of the field.

'Blaziken, Watch out!' May alerted.

But it was too late. The Blaze Pokémon was not given a chance to react as an impossibly fast blur crashed into it, possessing electrifying force. Blaziken went down, and out.

"_One down Milady."_Lucario communicated to his trainer. She had given up telling him to call her "Bliss" after all these years: but the Aura Pokémon just couldn't do it. It had become a sort of an in-joke after that – as much as he didn't like to admit, Lucario had a very peculiar sense of humor when he wasn't in battle.

'Alright Lucario, I think that's enough for now.' Bliss said lightly, as the Aura Pokémon fluidly danced back to its trainer.

'Huh?' Ash asked, wondering why Bliss took that odd decision.

'Staravia might get hurt in a two on one battle Ash.' Bliss answered, seeing his expression. She smirked, 'Besides, It's one-on-one now. That should make things interesting.'

'_Let's see if I can make his bird evolve.' _She thought. Obviously, it was quite close to its evolutionary limit: all it needed was a little push.

'Ready Staravia?' Ash asked the Flying-type, which gave him an affirmative chirp.

'Right, Wing Attack!' He ordered, as the Pokémon speared its way downwards; quite difficult to see in the background of the dark clouds.

'Ditto, Transform into … Zapdos!' Bliss commanded, smirking.

'WHAT?' there was a predictable, surprised reaction from the opposing team. Even Manaphy and Pikachu had grasped the impossibility of the order.

Bliss knew that this was impossible: for most people that is. She had managed to master the technique to make Ditto transform into the Legendary Birds though: it had been excruciatingly difficult, but she had managed it. It was only possible because she came in regular contact with these birds – and her Ditto was one of her most stubborn Pokémon – it would do whatever it takes to get where it wants to go.

So, Ditto and Bliss had worked for a long time to make this possible. Obviously, these Legendary Bird impersonations were nowhere near the power of a real one, much less that of the Chief Birds which resided on the islands of Thunder, Ice and Fire in the Orange Islands. It was worth it because they were intimidating enough and impressive – no – awe inspiring for contest battles.

Ditto consumed itself with light – the light of transmutation. This imploded inward to reveal a large, yellow bird with spiky feathers and an intimidating appearance. Every square inch of it looked like it was the real thing: duplicated to perfection.

But Staravia was one determined Pokémon. Disregarding everything around it, the bird took upon the challenge of defeating his opponent. He felt a surge of great energy from within, an energy which reached into his heart, pulling him further up the path of ascension. Light began to shine from his body – this challenge had demanded that it should come out.

It was the light of Pokémon Evolution.

* * *

A team of two humans and a Pokémon materialized into visibility near the Valor Lakefront Hotel. They were on the Sunnyshore front of the hotel; a vast expanse of wer sand – one of the most famous beaches of the Sinnoh region – lay ahead of them.

However, the beach was deserted. It didn't look like a beach at all right now – it looked more like an asymmetrically extended portion of the sea, where the salty water had extended onto the shore: more than what it usually did during the high tide. The gloomy weather here didn't really encourage beachside activities either.

'Just our luck.' The redhead muttered, 'How did we end up here anyway?'

'Well,' said the Pokémon who had learnt the ways and verbosity of humans, 'Da' au-thor don't know tha' yet, so wes ain't sure.'

'Ah, wait Jess, I see something.' The bluehead spoke, inquisitive to the sight he was seeing just in front of him. His comrades saw it too, and it made their blood freeze.

Right in front of them was a gigantic ocean. Okay, fine, oceans are always gigantic. But this ocean – it seemed something out of place – something odd like it was waiting, in battle stance, to attack someone else. The oceans do contain life, but this time, it appeared that the ocean itself was alive.

And the cause of this dramatic effect was none other than the great whale Kyogre – who just happened to be lurking right here, next to the beaches of the Valor Lakefront. It was easily visible – albeit partially camouflaged by the water – as a great lump upon a level ocean. Not that the ocean was really 'level' now: monstrous waves kept crawling back and forth the beach with excruciating force.

A twisted plan began forming in the trio's head. They had gone way down the corporate ladder, and had to climb back up. What better way than capture a Legendary Pokémon?

The sound of a giant wave rushing towards them pulled the trio back to their senses as they began a swift locomotion away from it. Maybe capturing Kyogre wouldn't be a good idea after all.

* * *

'Alright!' Ash said, pulling out his Pokedex, pointing it to his newly evolved Flying-type. It was a large and graceful bird, with an intimidating glance that clearly said it was not to be underestimated.

'_Staraptor, the Predator Pokémon. It has a savage nature. It will courageously challenge foes that are much larger.'_

'Congratulations Ash.' May said, smiling at the bird Pokémon which gave a respectful "nod", yet not taking his sight off the impersonation.

Bliss didn't say anything, except her next attack move.

'Ditto - Thunder, reverse-infuse with Steel Wing!'

'_Reverse Infuse?'_Ash thought. This was no time to figure that out though.

'Staraptor, Quick Attack!'

First, "Zapdos" was circling itself with a sphere of electricity, while drawing more power from the storm clouds that were forming. Its wings began glowing just as it did so, the fake-steel plating conducting the formed current rapidly. It was literally a "shocking" sight to see, but Staraptor moved in; unperturbed.

That was not a good idea.

Although the move significantly reduced the blow, the electricity completely overwhelmed the newly evolved Pokémon. Why? That's because it was using the electromagnetic field produced by electrifying the steel wing attack to augment the power of the charged Thunder.

The more important fact was the storm clouds really boosted that power and Staraptor was thrown backwards like a slingshot: with incredible force and incredible speed, as it was completely polarized by electrical charges.

But Ash and his Pokémon didn't give up that easily. Until –

'I think that's enough for now Ash.' Bliss said, nodding to the "Zapdos" which retransformed itself into the pink Ditto after landing elegantly.

Ash opened his mouth to protest, but nodded in understanding just a moment later. Of course: they couldn't afford to let their Pokémon get even the minutest injuries right now.

'How did you do that Bliss?' Ash and May both asked simultaneously, getting a patch of pink on their faces in the process; they hadn't forgotten about the day's events yet.

'Later.' She replied, walking over to her bag and looking into it. 'Who wants dinner?'

The squirming sound produced by the stomach of the younger trainers was all the answer she needed.

* * *

He was stirring the soup ever so carefully and delicately. He loved to cook, and loved being a breeder. He loved his younger friends and those he had met earlier on his journey.

Yet, it'll always be a mystery why he never got the kind of love he desired, despite trying so much. Maybe it was (ironically) the consequence of trying more than necessary. Maybe he should consider slowing down on that facet of his life.

'_Nah,' _He thought, _'what's the fun it that?'_

Brock paused while he picked up the spoon and tasted the soup. It was delicious.

Nodding to himself, he set off the find his younger companion (leaving the fire still on so that the soup didn't get cold); Dawn had gone for exercising her joints a bit, freeing them – she seemed to be quite okay now – although she couldn't run yet, naturally.

Following her footprints, he walked on the rugged path, following it to reach the edge of Lake Valor.

Unlike the other two Great Lakes of Sinnoh, this one had many offshoot "ponds" which were all interconnected by channels of water running _underneath_ the Valor Lakefront Hotel and the other few towns surrounding the area. It went as far as here; Brock didn't realize that until Ash told him that there was a water source so close to their campsite. Dawn seemed to have picked a good place to damage her leg on.

Looking around, he quickly spotted the young coordinator. She seemed to be completely lost in the water, as if her eyes recorded something in it … something that the others couldn't quite make out. She was drawn to water – not any water: the water of these Lakes – just like Ash was to fire. This attraction was not like Misty; it had a mystical quality to it. She used to spend hours riding her bike to Lake Verity in her short vacations – she felt that she just had to be there.

Brock almost didn't want to disturb her, but then, it was unadvisable to leave a fire unchecked in the wilderness. Her mood reverted instantly back to her usual self as she heard him approaching. Turning to look at that lake one last time, she nodded to Brock as she trotted along towards the campsite; limping slightly.

* * *

The Moon was shining its reflected light in scattered streaks across the landscape. Apparently, the clouds had scattered somewhat, but not all that much. It had rained briefly just as the group had finished their dinner – for about an hour which Bliss spent explaining battle strategies to the younger trainers under a large, shelter giving tree.

These younger trainers were safely asleep now – they had opted for sleeping under the stars even if there was a chance of further rainfall. They wouldn't notice until the morning that their hands were intricately mingled together like it was a perfectly harmonious occurrence. Manaphy and Pikachu snuggled around them and they only added to the peacefulness of the scene.

Alright, it was Bliss who did the first step when they were asleep (she couldn't resist), but their hands seemed to have found their own way after that.

Speaking of Bliss, the Grand Coordinator was sitting under that same tree, holding her portable Aura Detector in her hand.

'_I'm still getting no signal.' _She thought, frowning, _'You and your gadgets Meir.'_

She smiled, and realized what she really needed now was a trip to the bathroom – make that nature's one. Before she got up, she could swear that she had felt the earth vibrate.

* * *

I'll try to avoid switching to different POVs as much as I can, but it's necessary in some places.

You guys didn't think I was going to leave Team Rocket out of this, did you?


	12. Water, Water Everywhere

A/N:

No Rangernet this time. It just seems a tad bit inappropriate for this chapter. Also, I've written this one after I wrote half of the Thirteenth one – I hope it's in continuity.

Reviews seem to be drying up again, sadly.

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Water, Water Everywhere

* * *

_Water: a simple compound of Hydrogen and Oxygen, a compound so vital for existence yet so dangerous. Out of all contradictions, Water seems to be one of the most bizarre.  
The compound can be found commonly in its three states – ice, water and vapor. The three states play a vital role in driving the circle of Life. It is said to be a Universal Solvent, capable of dissolving a wide variety of chemicals._

_Yet, it is dangerous. Water can drown you. Dirty water can poison you, and conducts electricity. Much of the universe's water may be produced as a byproduct of star formation. When stars are born, their birth is accompanied by a strong outward wind of gas and dust. When this outflow of material eventually impacts the surrounding gas, the shock waves that are created compress and heat the gas. The water observed is quickly produced in this warm dense gas._

_Simple, yet mysterious; Water in the Pokémon World was collected and contacted by the Legendary Kyogre. His hydrophilic nature led to his hate for the soil, for the land, for the earth. In a state of hibernation for many thousands of years, it was unwittingly awakened by humans who should have kept their noses from where they don't belong – creating disruption in the order of nature and balance. Instincts overwhelmed Kyogre's logic as he set out to find He who personifies the Land. _

_Not finding his forever rival, he found someone else instead. No prince was here to stop him now…or so he thought._

It was yet another day and the Sun was rising once again in the eastern reaches of Sinnoh. A young brunette coordinator slowly opened up her sapphire eyes. And when she did, she was in for a surprise. Her right arm was, for reasons unknown to her, intricately and delicately mingled with the left arm of a sleeping trainer. Her left arm had been completely used by a certain blue Pokémon as a pillow. She was completely immobile as her 'captors' were still in a deep sleep. It was confusing as to how their hands had managed to find their way into the open sleeping bags though.

Not even trying to get up, she looked around lying flat on the ground hoping she could find some help with the situation: namely Bliss. However, the Grand Coordinator was nowhere in her line of sight. She could have gone somewhere, or could still be here, asleep. After all, it was only the crack of dawn right now, and thus, quite early in the morning.

Helpless to the situation, May began to notice that her face was rapidly heating up. She now noticed the warmth being generated by the clasp of Ash's hand – although he didn't notice that consciously, he seemed to be quite peaceful and cozy, Pikachu wrapped in his other arm just like Manaphy was wrapped with May. Time for Plan B –

'Ash, wake up!' May said softly, although it was rather loud for a whisper. Oh, how she hoped that it had rained in the middle of the night, yet she seemed to grow steadily more and more comfortable by the minute. Her face was tomato red by now, yet she couldn't take her eyes off of the sleeping boy, despite her sincerest efforts to do so. She was stuck trying to find an appropriate way of waking him up, and whispering into his ear wasn't working.

'_What does he dream about anyway?' _May thought, curiosity surging through her mind. She didn't need to wait too long to find out though:

'Pikachu,' Ash said (still sleeping), 'Volt tackle! Then give me...' his facial expression changed from a commanding one to a grumpy one, 'a double cheeseburger with loads of sauce.'  
May groaned. '_Well I should've known.' _Ash's tribal instincts were simple and very monotonic: Pokémon and Food. It was common knowledge by now, at least among his friends.

'_Might as well wait until I think of something.' _She thought, sighing mentally. It was then that her "partner's" expression changed to a serious one – yes still in his sleep.

'Ho-oh, Mesprit, Palkia …' Ash said seriously, trailing off. Suddenly, he smiled and gripped May's arm more tightly (which felt both extremely comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time), '…no need to worry.'  
Ash grudgingly opened his eyes, shocked as he suddenly (yet surprisingly gently) whipped his arm from May's, going into several shades of purple at the same time. Unfortunately, Pikachu was given a nasty jerk due to this as he was in Ash's other arm. The rodent gave a very electrifying "good morning" to Ash in return; meanwhile, May was too caught up in comprehending what Ash might have dreamt to notice.

* * *

'No need to worry Brock!' Dawn said cheerfully as she circled around the breeder; limping only slightly, but otherwise perfectly able to walk. 'See, I can walk perfectly fine.'

The Breeder frowned; his hand approached his chin and rubbed it. Sure, the young coordinator did look well enough to travel (in ways more than one, he thought musingly), but he wasn't exactly sure they should…

'Brock! Come on, I can walk just great.' Dawn pleaded.

'Well okay, let's go and meet up with the others.' Brock agreed. He looked around for the orange dragon and found that it wasn't anywhere near the campsite.

'Guess we'll have to wait till Bliss's Dragonite comes back.' Dawn said sighing. 'Where could he have gone to anyway?' she asked.

'I guess it's hungry; it's a big Pokémon after all.' The Breeder replied. Naturally the large body mass required an equivalent energy input through the most common means possible: food.

They didn't have to wait for long, but it gave Dawn time to think. That night she seemed to have one of the strangest dreams; like she was watching a pair of green and blue eyes merge together trying to deliver a message. Somehow, it drove her to get out of this camping site, and onto finding her other friends.

Whatever, they still had to wait for their Dragonite bus to arrive didn't they? Brock highly suspected that Bliss had forgotten to tell them about their transport, he was trying to comprehend how exactly he and Dawn would fit correctly onto a small back. Anyhow, the orange-cream dragon arrived shortly, finishing up what seemed like a fish in his mouth. Yes, there were normal animals in the Pokémon world, but their natural population was very low (since they're at the bottom of the food chain), and most of them were in specialized farms anyway. People don't eat Torchic eggs – they're really _hot, _not to mention illegalMay's Blaziken would find them before you could say "Overheat".

Brock nodded to Dawn, who just cheerfully limped onto the Dragonite's back, clutching the base of one of its neck gently, yet firmly. The Pokémon had crouched down for them to board; it knew where to go and it also knew that these humans would need some help – yet Dawn seemed acquainted with riding on Pokémon. Brock went on next, cautiously. He instinctively grabbed the large hump on Dragonite's back securely. The Dragon nodded to the two trainers on its back, with an expression clearly saying '_You better hold on tight, or else…'_

'Something tells me I'm not going to like this.' The breeder commented. Ash was the one who did these sorts of things; he was usually good for advice and making sure he didn't do anything too stupid.

'Come on Brock,' Dawn said cheerfully, her electric blue eyes sparkling excitedly in the light of the morning Sun, 'No need to wor – AAH!'

Dragonite took off unexpectedly, with a shockingly fast speed and rapidly gaining altitude. While Brock held onto its back, he took a look at the rising Sun.

'_Seven A.M., the Sun is directly in front of me.' _He calculated. They were going east; at speeds you would normally want yourself concealed within a fiberglass cabin.

* * *

'Alright, so what were the two of you doing?' Bliss asked them with a smirk. She had arrived on the scene right after Ash had become electrically fried, and Pikachu was constantly prodding him at different places to make sure he was alright.

'Um…we, erm... nothing.' May replied hesitantly, trying to put on an innocent look. Ash merely gave a tired shrug, although internally laughing at May's antics.

Bliss raised a knowing eyebrow, but later broke into an explanation of where she had been to.

'I'd gone up further ahead, and the path was blocked, as I sensed.' She said, pulling out her PDA in the process. The interference was still strong, so the phone function still didn't work. Fortunately, she did have Sinnoh's route map stored in the device's memory. She located Route 213 and pointed to the screen. Ash and May looked over her shoulder, momentarily feeling a great jerk of energy while their heads brushed against Bliss's.

Bliss had taken note of this, but now wasn't the time to bring it up. She lifted her finger and pointed it over the screen once more.

'See that narrow strip of sand right here?' She asked, while the younger trainers quickly located it and gave the affirmative. 'That whole stretch of beach…' she drew an imaginary line right above the displayed graphic, '…is underwater.'

'What?'

'You heard me right, blame Kyogre. Right now, I'd take a leaf out of Dawn's book and say "No need to worry".'

'But-'

'Hey!' Bliss silenced them, pointing to herself. 'I know a shortcut, but it's a little rocky and a bit dangerous. You have the option to either go for a swim or take my shortcut. Mind you, it's a pretty long swim.'

Ash nodded, and joined May whose eyes were transfixed on the screen. The sea looked inviting, yet not so inviting at the same time. Who knows? The former didn't take long however, and quickly voiced his opinion that they should take the high and not-so-dry route. It was a minute before May agreed with Ash. She really did want to see the famous Sinnoh beach and wanted Manaphy near it's naturally element, but she knew that she ought to be safe for now: there was time for that later.

'Alright then, we're all in agreement.' Bliss said, before adding, 'This is one of those times where I wish Ditto could turn into an airplane or something.'

'I guess one of the Legendary Bird forms can't carry all three of us, huh?' May queried.

'With the amount of food the two of you eat?' Bliss said, the tiniest hint of a smile forming on her face, 'I don't think so.'

The trio kept on walking for silence after that, for about an hour. Ash, with Pikachu on his head as usual, May, with Manaphy who was experimenting a similar position. Bliss was leading them northeast, stopping every now and then and closing her eyes; only to open them again and change their course slightly. They were travelling through thick vegetation, and that was a welcome change now from the dark sky which seemed to have become normal. Neither Ash nor May had ever been this long without the sun shining on their skin.

Ultimately, they happened to arrive at what seemed like the end of the line: a towering cliff was facing them, and there didn't seem to be any other way to go.

'Here we are!' Bliss said triumphantly, pointing to the cliff.

'Isn't that a dead end?' Ash asked uncertainly. Usually, he wouldn't hesitate to climb a cliff, but there was something unusually ominous about this one: their seemed to be an eerie calm about it.

'There's no such thing as a dead end.' Bliss replied shortly, taking out an Ultraball. 'You should know that by now Ash.'

The same Lucario they had battled earlier came to their sight. It simply gave a nod and that was followed by a ravishing gust of wind. The trio shielded their eyes while they felt themselves being escalated upwards. The gust of wind was followed by a few crackling noises which soon died down into silence. Bewildered at that sudden move, Ash opened his eyes to a surprise.

They were now on the top of the cliff: and sure, it did seem like a nasty drop down to sea level. Speaking of the sea, it was right to their south; the ocean that separated Sinnoh from Johto-Kanto.  
The geography aside, the important question was:

'How did we get here?' Ash asked. This was a weird experience even by his standards.

'A nifty Pokémon move called Rock Climb.' Bliss answered, surveying the surroundings. 'Copacetic. Anyway, let's move on; watch your step.'

* * *

A trio of "thieves" currently hid in their favorite place: a bush. They had their sights fixed on the exquisite hotel complex in front of them. With the beaches washed out and nowhere to go, this was the only alternative they could find; and wait until they finalized a criminal scheme to catch the Legendary Whale.

Valor Lakefront Hotel was a sprawling complex of individual 'huts' and buildings. There was no doubt that it was excellently maintained – every square inch of the place was sparkly clean, even with all the storms and the rains going on. This was the most famous establishment around Lake Valor; one of Sinnoh's three great lakes. Naturally, there were quite a few other human towns and settlements, but this hotel was the most famous "hub" that connected the Sunnyshore, Pastoria and Veilstone municipalities.

Right now, however, it was deserted. Evacuation protocols had required the hotel to be clear of all inhabitants; even most of the resort staff were absent. Apparently, Team Rocket thought that this would be the optimum choice for setting up a temporary base; at least one of the members did.

'Ah!' James said, smiling at the sight, 'Valor Lakefront, my favorite Sinnoh holiday resort.'

'You've been here before?' asked his redhead colleague, although she wasn't all that surprised by now. James did come from one of Kanto's richest families.

'I used to come here every time I was in Sinnoh; I remember staying in the pool and the beach the whole day!' James said, excited, before standing up and walking towards the complex.

'Where're ya' goin'?' queried the Pokémon member of the trio.

'I know this place inside out.' James replied, 'I figured out the place for a perfect hideout!'

Surprisingly, Jessie didn't complain this time but just stood up to follow her teammate. Groaning, the feline member of the team got up and began following the other two. They had barely started walking when they felt an immoderate gust of wind blow right on their faces, and send them falling flat on the bush again.

Clearly, they hadn't expected a Dragonite - on whom a very dazed looking Breeder and a mildly exhausted coordinator were riding on – to land right in the center of the empty complex.

'It's the older twerp and the new twerpette!' Jessie hissed to her fellow mates. What were _they _doing _here_?

'Ah well, that was fun while it lasted.' Dawn said, carefully getting off the Dragon-type, later giving it a short bow. 'Thanks for the ride Dragonite.' She added. Brock, still dazed, managed to second the appreciation. The orange-cream dragon simply gave a short nod, and before they knew it, took off at lightning fast speeds back towards the west.

'That took all of ten minutes.' Dawn said, checking her Poketch for the time.

'Dawn look over here!' Brock interrupted. His tone was definitely not a happy one as his gaze went out towards the beach from the hotel's upper platform (the one they were on).

The scene wasn't good for two reasons. The first – well there wasn't really any beach to speak of. A beach did use to exist, but it was drowned in water.

The second – this was far more unnerving. The water looked positively like it was ready to kill. The waves could be mistaken for tsunamis if they hadn't known who was causing this.

There they were. Far towards the Sunnyshore side of the hotel, although still visible near the horizon was a monolithic figure which paced slowly towards the resort. As if anticipating this, a large blue bump in the sea was strangely visible – mere meters away from the foot of the resort's bottommost layer.

The situation was certainly far worse when you see it with your own eyes.

One more chappie done. The action will heat up in the next chapter, where I'm also about to introduce a new major Oc. BTW, I didn't plan it completely, but the geography is quite accurate to the games; small coincidences. 

* * *


	13. The One Who Shines

A/N:

I hope you all have got my review replies.

(Anime Spoilers)

If Maylene's Lucario is an example (in recent episodes), I'd say the species is a fan of Star Wars. Heh, I believe there may be some references in this story too; intentional or not.

(/Anime Spoilers)

Anyway, here's the next chapter – introducing, the one and only…(read on will you!)

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: The One Who Shines

* * *

**0900 Hours**

**Pokémon Council Grand Library,  
The Indigo Plateau,  
Kanto**

Meir Aurora gracefully entered through the automatic doors as they slid open, their infrared sensors detecting his heat signature long before he arrived near the entrance. He stepped into the Grand Library – a complete compendium of all the Pokémon knowledge and history so far recorded till the modern age.

The Library was a systematic link of rooms – different sizes and different shapes. Everything was categorized digitally, and according to the topic, with cross-reference markers for overlapping topics. This was because the dates and names of many ancient documents were unknown, so it would be unwise to organize them chronologically or alphabetically. Meir simply strode over to his favorite corner, and took a seat by the section marked "_Ho-oh, Tin Tower and the Aura Connections." _He dropped his set of books on one side and his lightweight laptop on the other side of the desk.

The building itself was not newly built – yet possessed ultramodern architecture. Meir felt very comfortable working here as it was an environment similar to his hometown: Sunnyshore City in the Sinnoh region. The black paneling and gently glowing fluorescent lights made one want to read – and the cozy desks only made this more comfortable. In the central hallway, there was a massive Organic LED display which generally showed a constant feed of information and news related to Pokémon happening around the world.

Meir himself was a well built, tall, muscular man with a razor sharp mind – the product of years of hard training and pursuit of knowledge. Now, he wasn't one to have overly handsome facial anatomy, but it was pleasant nonetheless. The single most striking feature that instantly caught anyone's attention was a pair of brilliant chartreuse eyes (that's a diligent shade of green). These eyes, contrasting with his very dark brown hair (he never combed it, yet it retained a permanent unchanging shape), gave him the distinct appearance of someone eternally radiating positive energy – that wasn't far from the truth really. His soft baritone was such that once you enact a conversation with him; you wouldn't want to stop listening to what he said.

The digital notebook flipped open as Meir gently pressed the power button. A five-second boot later, the screen lit up showing the exact same stream of information which was streaming down the Library's screen, although over a background of gentle blue. One notable point about Mier was that he absolutely loved blue. Most of his clothes; such as the attire he wore now: a light blue shirt with matching jeans and a navy blue coat on top – were all blue. Somehow, it just seemed to suit him perfectly. He wore blue gloves with spectral lines on them, terminating at his palm. His laptop was blue, and so where many of his diaries. Ironically, he never used blue ink while writing.

His fingers danced over the keyboard, calling up the secure RANGERNET protocols. His was just about to enter the password when – a lady walked towards him with a respectful air around her. Meir smiled at her.

'Hey Tally,' Meir said with a smile, addressing the main librarian, 'not too busy today I can see.'  
It was true – the library was usually packed with those pursuing knowledge. On a few days, Meir would even meet some of the regional Professors as they carried out their research. Occasionally, he would meet someone from the Eastern Hemisphere – like from Orre or even Allumia.

'No, Your Excellency,' she replied but only after a respectful bow, 'the Council isn't in session – I guess that counts for something.'

'I don't need to tell you to drop the formalities.' Meir said, smirking. 'Anyway,' he turned to his screen 'the waves don't seem to be doing well today – both literally and Auradynamically.'

'Huh?'

'Ah, forget it. I'm pretty sure Bliss can handle what she's up against. She has the dual anomaly by her side after all, and that's a plus.' Meir replied thoughtfully. He turned to look at the confused face of the librarian, and his expression turned into a frown.

'You – You can't tell me can you?' she asked uncertainly.

'As much as I hate keeping secrets, I'm afraid I can't.' Meir replied shaking his head. 'It's classified penumbra by Professor Goodshow himself. As World Champion I have a duty to keep it secure – ironic as my Aura technology was the thing that first detected it.'

'Well, I guess I better get going.' Tally replied, nodding. She paused, 'You wouldn't be wanting any more information on Ho-oh, would you?'

Meir smiled again, his chartreuse eyes flickering mildly. She was certainly good at remembering who-wants-what; which could get pretty confusing for a single individual in a gigantic library like this.

'No thanks,' he answered, 'I've got another mystery to solve – how a cheerful old man could be so secretive. I might need it later though'

'Ah, well.' Tally said, closing her hazel eyes briefly. She always did like it when the Professor came to visit. He had an infectious amiable personality and never did seem like the President of the League; and subsequently, the Council at a first glance. That brought her to another point:  
'It's kinda odd seeing you around without Lucario nearby though.'

Meir laughed. 'Bliss needs him more than I do, and I can't help her – she wants to do this alone. That Ash kid is like her new obsession, although he _is _one of the four… erm, never mind.' He said quickly. Terrible at keeping secrets, he wondered sometimes why he was entrusted to all these things. Possibly, it was because he was one of the few who could actually do something about it; moreover, this was the result of HIS research – no point trying to deny that. He loved his work on Aura nearly as much as he loved his true profession: Pokémon battles.

Tally nodded, as she strode over to the library's "Control Center" – an elevated desk beside the monolithic display, her dress fluttering lightly in the library's breeze.

Meir's brilliant eyes shot back at the screen, as he continued his authentication process. The familiar sight of the RANGERNET update screen looked back at him from the screen:

_RANGERNET, MAY 23 – 2050_

_AURA DETECTION SYSTEM_

_# B – 2050 – L – 02_

_Umbra Clearance Confirmed. Welcome, WC Meir Aurora._

_Initialized … 0910 Hours._

_**Updates: **__Southeast Sinnoh locked, tracking Valor Lakefront coordinates…_

Meir looked in anticipation at the screen, waiting for news about his wife and her new companions.

* * *

**0930 Hours**

**  
South Eastern Sinnoh**

'Riolu seems to be pretty good at this.' Bliss noted, as the young Emanation Pokémon, along with its evolved form strolled through the three meter tall grass. Once again, this was to guide their way so they didn't get lost. All the trio had to do was follow the two blue blurs which proceeded cautiously directly in front of them.

'How much further Bliss?' Ash asked. He was getting tired of strolling through the tall grass, and he knew that he'd have to preserve his strength for later. He had that feeling again, the anticipation of something unexpected – he was sure that they'd face Kyogre sooner or later.

Bliss frowned. 'Honestly, I have no idea.' She strode forwards catching up with the two Aura sensing Pokémon. Apparently Lucario was having a telepathic conversation with his current master. Bliss merely nodded to him and slowed her pace so that she was once again with the younger trainers.

'Even our Aura sensing friends here have no idea.' Bliss said, sighing, 'But they think we're heading in the right direction.'

'I thought you could sense Aura too, Bliss?' Ash asked her.

'All of us can, but not everyone can do it as easily.' Bliss said pointing to the two Pokémon walking in front of them. 'They're the ones who can do it best. I could too, if this grass didn't mess my hair.' She added grumpily, flicking a few twigs off her long black mass.

'_Guess she's kinda like Dawn in that way.' _Ash thought internally – he could never begin to understand his younger companion's obsession with her hair. Something made the Grand Coordinator her stop in her tracks. She kept on looking back, with her mouth slightly open.

'What is it?' Ash said turning around himself. Someone was missing and it suddenly made him feel very empty inside.

'Where's May?' he asked, panicking slightly.

'I thought YOU were the one who was supposed to hold her hand. Anyway, we better go find -' Bliss stopped in mid-sentence as she noticed that the young trainer wasn't there; Ash had run back in the direction they were walking from.

'ASH, WAIT!' Bliss shouted running back too – along with Lucario, while Riolu looked on and followed.

'_He is so reckless, if only he knew how close we were to the ocean.' _She thought, adrenaline rushing through her body as she attempted to pursue her missing comrades. Bliss could tell for sure that Ash wasn't one of the Ninety percent of trainers who went on to pursue a non-Pokémon related profession after their defeats at one or more Leagues or Festivals. The stamina, determination and a degree of recklessness required to carry on was in his blood, no doubt.

'That doesn't look good.' Dawn agreed. She could feel an ominous chill around her; what she couldn't believe was that Kyogre was so close to them. She suddenly began to feel useless.

'There must be something we can do…' Dawn said, her voice becoming slightly desperate towards the end of that sentence when she saw a golden something erupt from Kyogre's mouth; onto the shoreline.

Unfortunately, that "something" was Kyogre's Hyperbeam, a singular glow of intense, pure energy, unleashed directly towards the central part of the Southern Beach. It didn't do much to the sand of course, expect maybe turning it into impure glass due to the heat, but what it did manage to do was signal a message of the Legendary Whale's strength. As if in answer, a similar golden beam was transmitted from the horizon to the beach.

It seemed that the battle had officially commenced.

'Dawn,' Brock said, grimly surveying the situation, 'With Hyperbeams _that_ powerful, I doubt there's much we can do.'

'I know but…' she trailed off. It would be better to wait until May arrived with Manaphy, but she feared they might not make it before the battle escalated.

Meanwhile, amongst the depths of the very same hotel, certain members of Team Rocket were in construction stages of their very latest mech. One of them, however, seemed to be exasperated by this task.

'Ah, what's the point?' James said dully, dropping a spanner as he looked out of the window. He had seen the awe inspiring power of the two clashing Hyperbeams. He hadn't faced a Legendary for quite a while; and it began to dawn on him that their plans were simply futile against such Pokémon of immeasurable power.

'Look James,' commanded the redhead of the team, 'there's no point whining. Just come here and help us build this thing!'

'But Jess, even those twerps aren't able to do anything!' he replied in defense. 'What chance do _we _have against Kyogre and Heatran?'

'James,' Jessie said, authoritatively, 'it is our duty as members of Team Rocket to do everything we can to be the Bad Guys!' Her eyes narrowed at her teammate, who was still looking out of the window, 'Get back here and help us make this thing!'

'Yeah, my paws ain't doin' all da' work alone ya' know.' Meowth said grudgingly, fixing a bolt on the machine. Reluctantly, James got up and went over to their new robot. Trying to take solace in the fact that it seemed like the best one yet, he began to screw bolts in the metal plates; hoping against the odds that this new robot would be able to conquer the might of two legends.

* * *

**1000 Hours,**

**The Indigo Plateau,  
Kanto**

Mier gave a short sigh as he looked at his screen. He calculated that due to their loss of signal, they were probably taking the shortcut which Bliss had discovered earlier in Sinnoh. The Rangernet sensors could detect some human life forms in the Lakefront Hotel; so he presumed that some of the team may have made it.

What disturbed him was that Kyogre and Heatran were approaching striking range – that is, if the Rangernet sensors were correct along with his own far-weaker detection range. Aura was a wave spectrum on which the fundamental life frequency of an organism manifested itself. That little had been known for many hundreds of years, ever since the time of the Great War between Pokelantis and Pokemonpolis: the collision of two dynasties; a ruthless hunger for power. But that wasn't his concern right now.

Meir knew that he should try and keep this off his mind for a while; he understood the reasons why Bliss wished to do this herself. He felt that he should go back home; she would likely call him for retrieving a few Pokémon due to the severity of the condition. A glance at the Library screen told him that the media knew a little of what was going on as well.

Before that, he needed to make a videophone call; he did so from his current position, the VOIP lines engaging the global telecom network.

Into view, came a tall and attractive blonde woman. She wore a smile as she proceeded to answer the call.

'Hey Cynth.' Meir said sheepishly as he looked at the Sinnoh Champion's image on the screen. Apparently, it looked like she had just taken a bath as she was wrapped in a white towel. 'Do you mind, or should I call back?' he asked, noticing her condition.

'No, it's alright.' She replied, enigmatic at hearing her best friend (and longtime rival), as she sat down on a chair nearby her phone.

'Did you see Rangernet lately?' Meir asked, coming straight to the point. As much as he'd love to talk, he didn't quite have the time.

Cynthia nodded. 'Bliss isn't at the hotel yet – I'd know. I'm in Veilstone after all.'

'Well?' Meir asked, curious to hear her answer.

'You want my opinion don't you?' Cynthia asked.

'Yes.' Came the short reply. The two had known each other for so long now; they didn't really need to explain themselves.

'I think she can still handle it. If she doesn't reach in time, then the two anomalies will.' She replied.

'Are you sure?'

'Come on, TWO anomalies, and the Variable.' She emphasized. 'How could they not?'

Meir sighed. Bliss was the Grand Coordinator, and she had proved herself to be capable innumerable times. Why should he, of all people doubt her abilities? But this wasn't the main reason he called.

'This wasn't why you called, was it?' Cynthia said, almost like she read his thoughts; her face betraying a playful, yet serious expression.

'No.' Meir said, shaking his head. His chartreuse eyes sparkled as they faced the small camera which mounted atop the screen. 'I'd like to correct what you just said. Two anomalies and TWO variables.'

The Sinnoh champion faced the planet's one virtually, her mouth wide open. Was their search over at last?

Ash Ketchum made a run towards the wild grass. He was going in the right direction – he just knew it, but he didn't know how. It was almost like he could sense his target – May – kind of like how a heat seeking missile seeks out the infrared. He did maintain one act of caution; he was being extra careful not to trip over anything, or else he would have to face Dawn's condition; now wasn't really the time for that to happen.

Unfortunately for him, May seemed to be moving. She wasn't staying where she was; the coordinator was moving dangerously closer to the south, where a sharp precipice was followed by a vast, rocky ocean. Vaguely, he could hear the sounds of Bliss and her Lucario, along with his own Riolu following them. The sky was invisible overhead, covered by the thick, dense grass. Out of all places, this was one where his Staraptor wouldn't be able to help them – the vegetation obstructing aerial vision.

Meanwhile, May was walking towards the east, with Manaphy clutched protectively in her arms. The young coordinator was slightly panic-stricken with the fact that she was lost in tall grass, but she couldn't just stand there; she had to make a move to find the others – and that didn't turn out to be such a good idea. She didn't even remember how she got lost in the first place!

Luckily, she could hear Ash's voice calling for her.

'I'm here!' May shouted back. Instinctively she began to run towards the direction of the voice. That was a bad move as she managed to stumble upon the precipice. It was a very tall cliff and she _just _managed to grab hold of it – one hand there, and one with Manaphy – instinctively clenched. Valiantly, she attempted to climb up. Unfortunately, the cliff-rock couldn't hold on, and she was going to fall –

'Gotchya!' Ash mumbled, as his hand clutched May's with only the connection between three fingers saving the latter and Manaphy from falling. Ash realized that his body was slipping down the moist grass too – by then it was a little too late for action. Ash felt his senses getting all mixed up as he desperately tried to hang on. He just _had _to save May, in was a simple instinctive urge - there was no excuse for failure.

Fortunately, Ash's Riolu managed to hold on to him as he slipped, forming a chain which went like; Manaphy-May-Ash-Riolu. But that long chain didn't agree entirely with the laws of gravity, and was destined to down into the sea.

Ash could vaguely see Bliss's figure as she stopped, looking at the scene. Immediately she brought two fingers into her mouth and blew as hard as she could. The shrill notes of a whistle sounded and echoed throughout the entire area, as Riolu's grip gave away, the entire chain falling into the abyss…

* * *

There's a cliffhanger for you. I don't think it takes a lot to guess who would save them though.

Anyway, I'd like your opinions on this chapter, especially about Meir. The "anomalies" and "variables" aren't really important now, but they will be later, when explained.

BTW, "Meir" is Hebrew for "The One Who Shines", according to a source. I guess that would explain the name of this chapter.


	14. A River of Light

A/N: Here's some information about Rangernet which a few of you were wondering about.

As of this chapter, we climb onto one of the focal plot points which will last for the entire series. I've tried a lot to put proper emotions in this chapter, review and tell me if it worked.

- - - - - - - - -

Chapter Fourteen: A River of Light

- - - - - - - - -

_Rangernet – the worldwide Aura detection facility is a sub-component of the Pokémon Council, which itself is an autonomous, yet mutually dependent organization to the world government. _

_Rangernet's mission objective is: _

'To detect potential imbalances in the Pokémon World and convey intelligence to appropriate agencies to prevent danger to life.'

_The original idea behind Rangernet was conceived by the 202__nd__ session of the World Pokémon Council. Advances in Auradynamic technology (primarily by the research team led by Meir Aurora), had enabled the ability to artificially sense the Aura of individual beings. Coupled up with the ever increasing devastating incidents recently – caused by faulty or misguided Human-Pokémon interactions, the Council gave the go-ahead to interlink such a system with the existing Ranger Union intelligence division. Eventually, the location of Rangernet servers was decided to be under the Council Grand Library, hence also entrusting the system of maintaining a detailed archive of all events taking place._

_Rangernet is a bleeding edge system, still in its initial prototype stages. It started functioning on the first day of the year 2049, since when it successfully detected a major equilibrium breach in the Kanto bay. This came to be known as the 2049 Sea Temple incident which was the first ever recorded by Rangernet._

_In the time that followed, Rangernet proved to be increasingly reliable, especially in the Eastern Hemisphere where the Fiore Ranger team managed to avert a major criminal plan which threatened to destroy the whole region. Several other threats were successfully averted too._

_The Aura detection process is carried out by classified technology, using a totally different energy spectrum on which the Aura of most multicellular lifeforms manifests itself. The accuracy of the system was enhanced after the 2049 Space-Time disruption caused increasing concern about worldwide natural imbalances. A total of three satellites monitor the East, West and Central hemispheres of the world. _

_The nature of Aura is slightly different with each organism. Rangernet, thus, has the ability to identify some individuals and Legendary Pokémon on the world map, if some degree of accuracy is maintained in calculations. The relative low resolution and the high interference, however, cause frequent identification errors. As of now, the system has been unable to locate Pokémon such as Ho-oh (Prime) or extra dimensional beings such as Arceus, whose locations are not definable; organism which are able to cloak their aura effortlessly. _

_The future of Rangernet depends on enhancing its accuracy. The sensitive nature of Rangernet forces it to be kept secret – various pieces of useful information such as the location of Legendary Pokémon cannot be openly disclosed for the purpose of maintaining balance. _

---Rangernet History Archive

- - - - -

**1100 Hours,**

**Eastern Sinnoh**

They were falling…

…and falling… (With a lot of screaming too, you know)

…until they slowed down!

Things don't normally slow down when you're falling. Actually, the exact opposite phenomenon occurs. It's gravity's way of insuring "The higher you climb, the harder you fall".

The brittle chain of Manaphy-May-Ash-Riolu didn't know how, but they could swear that they definitely did slow down momentarily, giving just enough time for them to precisely land on a large orange hump. They didn't see what it was – when you're in a situation which almost guarantees death you won't either – but whatever it was, it's solid nature made them instinctively grab onto it. They had completely lost sense of time at this point, so they didn't know when they reached the surface again; carried by that same orange thing which had saved them.

The first thing which Ash saw was: yellow. He touched it, and it felt soft and furry. His senses suddenly came flooding back, and he hugged the yellow object tightly.

'Pikachu!' Ash exclaimed in delight, as he gave his starter a bone crushing hug.

'Pi..pi' the mouse managed to breathe out.

'Ash, you're suffocating the poor thing.' Bliss said, and he felt a hand gently pull his own away from the rodent, now breathing freely, taking huge gasps of air.

'Sorry about that.' He told the rodent, which merely nodded, happy for his trainer's safety.

Ash blinked as the entire scene came in front of him. He saw Dragonite – probably the thing which saved them. Riolu was there right beside him, talking. Apparently, it had already recovered and was thanking the orange-cream dragon for rescuing them. The young trainer brushed off the dirt on his clothes, and stood up, now perfectly alright. The last time he had fallen like that was in a Darkrai-induced nightmare.

Shaking off his mental stagnation, he walked over with Pikachu to where May and Manaphy were. The former was comforting her charge and was successful in doing so. Introspectively, the atmosphere began to normalize itself.

'We better get going guys.' Bliss announced, taking out her Ultraball. Ash noticed that Lucario was by her side at the time, and was recalled into the ball. This was replaced by another golden-black-white ball, out of which the familiar Amoeba Pokémon popped out. Without waiting for a command, it promptly took the shape of the Dragonite which was right next to it.

'Ash, May, both of you take Dragonite and head over to the hotel _pronto_,' Bliss directed (Dragonite gave a short nod to her), as she hoisted herself on Ditto's transformed body, 'I have to get to a Pokémon Center, we'll need all the help we can get.'

She was off in a flash, leaving the other two without a chance to say anything. Sure, Ditto wasn't nearly as fast as the original, but was pretty speedy nonetheless.  
It didn't take too long for Ash to recall Riolu and join May, Manaphy and Pikachu while they gripped Dragonite only to find that it wouldn't take off.

'Erm..is there something wrong Dragonite?' May asked it uncertainly. The orange-cream Pokémon wage a growl, its stubby hands pointed to its head.

'May, I think it wants us to grab its head.' Ash said, 'Is that it?'

The Dragon Pokémon nodded its round head slightly. Acting on instinct, Ash carefully positioned himself just before the Pokémon's neck. Looking at Dragonite; he could somehow sense that it was guiding him – without any words, just mental logistics. Following this, he put his legs on either side of the Dragon's head; now this was actually comfortable as the Pokémon's body was fairly soft.

Pikachu fit just naturally on top of Ash's vertical stomach, and Manaphy took a similar position right next to Pikachu; interestingly, this was with Ash and not May.  
The young coordinator was puzzled for a while, but Dragonite seemed to be guiding her too. She approached Ash's back and firmly grabbed hold of his waist, unknown to Ash, both of them could feel a little heat rise up to their faces; yet it felt perfectly comfortable. The momentary calmness in their minds was abruptly broken by Dragonite.

Lifting off without warning, with hair bending speed, May and the Pokémon held on more tightly to Ash, who in turn intensified his grip around the Dragon Pokémon's neck.

May really wanted to talk to Ash about the true reason she had finished up in Johto so quickly, but that chance had been consistently unavailable, this time it was the high velocity wind rushing past her which prevented that. Her mind's eye visualized a vague shape of a green haired coordinator, but they were being constantly distorted by an enigmatic blue aura.

Was it just her, or was destiny playing tricks on them?

- - -

**1130 Hours,**

**Aurora Residence,  
Indigo Plateau,  
Kanto**

2025 Eastern Hemisphere  
Known Anomaly List (A/N: Check here: "h t t p: //img338 . imageshack . us /img338 / 7943 / auralinkspm9 .png" remove spaces)

Meir glanced at his laptop screen for the umpteenth time that morning; to be met with the same image he had created a while back. The number crunching was still going on, but it was becoming clearer and clearer as time passed.

What wasn't so clear in his mind, of course, was whether this turn of events was one to rejoice at or fear. It wasn't all that bad, but something at the back of his mind reminded his consciousness that _he _was the only one who fully understood what was really happening at the moment. This had nearly displaced the Kyogre-Heatran battle from his mind; but that brought him to another question; one that – no matter how many times he tried to comfort himself – formed a degree of anxiety in his mind.

'_Why hasn't she called yet?' _

Went the reoccurring thought; one which had plagued him ever since Rangernet's sensors lost their accuracy and became unreliable – that was two hours back. He had quickly deduced by this that the Legendaries had begun their earth shaking scuffle, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to rely on the technology anymore. Why wouldn't she let him come with her? Sure, he enjoyed the ounce of relaxation he got (which was pretty rare), but this was making him worry more than –

He paused. The videophone was ringing! It's sound became music to his ears as he rushed over to it, hastily sitting down – she would already know –

'Meir!'

It was Cynthia. This was one of the few times he was just slightly disappointed to see his best friend; but her expression was pretty serious – there was an unmistakable angry fire in those eyes which seemed to radiate around her blonde hair – it looked like this was something important.

'Something wrong Cynth –'He began, but was cut off.

'No time.' She replied, looking around and speaking quickly, 'Listen I'm in the Galactic building and they…they have the information!'

Meir was taken aback. Team Galactic, knowing about the anomalies? He sighed; this was going to be a very long day, full of nasty surprises...

'How about trying to delete –' He paused seeing a momentary triumphant look on his friend's face. '…wait, you've already done that?'

'Well yeah.' Cynthia nodded, 'I don't think they really understand what it is about anyway, I just wanted to let you know in case things get ugly later, they shouldn't be a surprise.'

Meir nodded. That was one more thing he had to watch out for. 'See you then, take care.'  
No sooner was that sentence completed; Cynthia's image vanished from the screen. She was probably calling discreetly from the Galactic HQ building. It would have been bad being caught inside normally; it was even worse when you're the Sinnoh Champion and you get caught.

Meir wasn't all that good at the kind of "informal coordination" he was doing right now, jumping his mind from one disaster to another. At least, he thought he wasn't good at this, but than nothing terrible seemed to have happened yet.

'_What am I doing here?' _he thought bitterly, his chartreuse eyes looking around the house. '_I should be out there!' _

Attempting to get off the chair he was sitting on, the silence that had begun to settle down was yet again interrupted by the ring of the phone. Rolling his eyes, he sat down again and pressed the loudspeaker button.

'Hi!' Bliss said happily, her virtual image smiling. In spite of that expression, one could still sense that she wasn't a bit relaxed right now, and had the unmistakable sign of someone in a hurry.

'Aah … Finally.' Meir grinned, 'What took so long?' A quick glance around her figure revealed that she wasn't hurt the slightest, although her hair seemed messed up (meaning he'd have to be a little careful not to irritate her); the backdrop was unmistakable, being that of a Pokémon Center.

'Meir that is no way to speak to your wife when she's on a "mission".' she retorted, emphasizing the last word, yet saying it playfully at the same time.

The WC gave a sheepish smile, not replying, but holding up half a dozen Ultraballs balanced carefully on his blue gloves.

'I suppose you want these?' He asked. Bliss nodded, and turned away from the screen, apparently switching the transporter on. These things were a godsend…quite literally in fact. Each teleportation module was based on the principle of Quantum Tunneling, converting the Pokémon's energy forms (in the Pokeballs) into hyper spatial data. These devices were centered on a small Pearl core… Palkia's spatial powers captured in their quintessence: at human convenience.

Meir put these six Ultraballs, in their smaller, "transport" mode, into his home QT device. One of the perks of being an Elite Trainer is that you're allowed to have one of these at home…they're usually reserved for Centers or various Pokelabs. As the flash of teleportation initialized, the Pokémon…in their energy states began to be transferred; this would take a while though, as there were six of them.  
Meanwhile, there were questions he desperately needed to know the answers to. He got up and brought his laptop over, opening it, turning his screen to face the camera.

Bliss eyed the screen with interest, looking at the picture which was still dominating the desktop. Meir hovered his finger over May's name.

'Do you have any idea how this happened?' Meir asked her softly, while brief flashes of light told him that the Ultraballs were currently travelling through cyberspace.

'I think so, they subconsciously did perform a gravity stop…' Bliss trailed off, nodding, albeit uncertainly. '…but what if May is the new variable? What difference does it make?'

'Gender imbalance.' Meir replied shortly, moving his finger to Ash's and later his own name.

'So?' Bliss asked, once again looking at the transporter, which began to formulate the Ultraballs one by one.

'I don't know what it means.' Meir frowned, before continuing, 'You'll need to keep an eye on things.'

'Do you want me to interfere then?' Bliss queried, her sapphire eyes returning to her screen.

Meir shook his head violently, and Bliss understood. Whatever they did, they never interfered with people's emotions; it led to the formation of a really big mess and nothing good ever came out of it. Bliss didn't ask any more questions as she strode over the transporter, picking up her Ultraballs. Meir simply had his gaze fixed on the screen, although his chartreuse eyes were unfocused, lost in thought. He snapped back when he saw his wife's figure back in the view screen.

'I'll need to be going then.' Bliss said, pointing to the Ultraballs, 'The kids will need all the help they can get.'

Meir nodded. 'Take care, I love you.'

Bliss smiled, 'Love you too.' And the image dissolved into blackness, symbolizing what was to come in the battle ahead. Now that this matter was in good hands, and that he was emotionally well-balanced again, he reverted his attention on a curious new development.

His subconscious mind repeated the same conclusion over and over again…there was but one way out, one solution.

He would need to meet Ash and Dawn, and May too. They had a legitimate right to know everything…they had the right to know because they attracted Legends.

- - -

**Eastern Sinnoh**

Dragonite surged forwards, his blinding speed made him look like an orange blur in the afternoon sky. But, forget the sky for now. As they surged towards the hotel, there was a period when Ash and May felt like they had entered another dimension; the sun was almost completely hidden by storm clouds and the wind speed changed so much that Dragonite actually had to slow down due to the turbulence.

The Pokémon decided to lower its altitude. A dive towards the ground and a sudden vertical lift later, the passengers were now flying a mere meter above the earth's surface.

What made their blood chill was the light they saw in the distance; it was the unmistakable light of two colliding Pokémon attacks. Dragonite simply quickened his speed, blurring the vision of her passengers, everyone simply held on tighter to each other.

It was suddenly over. When Ash opened his eyes, he found himself in the centre of a large courtyard, with Brock and Dawn running towards them. Systematically, May, Ash, Manaphy and Pikachu got off their Dragonite bus in that order.

Without saying even a word, Dawn grabbed both Ash and May with her two hand and dragged them over the platform railing - still limping slightly, but able to maintain a quick pace.

What Ash and May saw their astonished them. Forget what happened in Hoenn earlier: that was when both Kyogre and Groudon had barely propelled themselves out of their dreams…this was like an all out war.

It was astonishing to see how much the beach had been disfigured even when Heatran, accounting for its slow speed, hadn't even reached the hotel yet! What would the condition be like when he did get here?

'Let's go and stop them!' Ash said, turning to the others.

'Are you sure Ash?' Brock asked, gazing at the magnificent blue whale lying at the foot of the lowest platform, 'Shouldn't we wait for Bliss first?'

'We've got Manaphy already, haven't we?' Ash said, motioning towards the sea-blue creature who was watching the battle with a rather sad expression.

'Ash, we don't even know what to do yet!' Dawn retorted.

Ash didn't answer. His amber eyes turned towards Kyogre and then came to rest on Manaphy. His mind blazed with determination…the kind he used to get during a League battle, the kind that had saved the world a couple of times too.

'Ash,' a voice interrupted softly. It was May. 'How about we let Manaphy decide?'

He didn't know why, but he agreed, along with Dawn and Brock. He had noticed that May's thoughts seemed to grow more and more practical as time went on – or was it just that she used to be on his mind for longer periods of time than usual now? Manaphy, however, didn't seem to fully hear them; it seemed to be focused on something moving near the beach.

The quartet had a look over it too.

What they saw was an unmistakably mechanized version of Groudon, with a disguised – yet visible – 'R' on its chest.

- - - - - - - - -

More answers, More questions.

I try to, but I always end up with so little dialogue when I go all-out on descriptions.


	15. An Ocean of Desolation

Another late update I guess.

I've been distracted by Crysis at home and crisis in school (if you know what I mean), and I've been trying to figure out a good way to proceed along with the story…the overall plot is so detailed now that I have difficulty keeping track of it. You'll see what I mean as we proceed (although it'll take many more chapters to find out), so read on!

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: An Ocean of Desolation

* * *

There is another room underneath the Council Library. Its existence isn't known by all, mostly because its location is kept hidden. To those who do know it, however, the room is dubbed the ARCC – short for Automated Rangernet Control Center.

The purpose for automating Rangernet is simple; it deals with the processing of Aura Spectrum frequencies, so any mere presence of life would render the highly sensitive and specialized number-crunchers present there useless. Hence, the room was virtually sealed to any and all forms of life, this also lead to the situation where the Rangernet servers were not maintained nor was their hardware ever upgraded by human hands. The entire process is fully automatic, and very secure.

However, directly adjacent to the ARCC is another large room known as the 'AVIERC', the Audio Visual Interleave Emergency Response Center, where (authorized) human beings can enter and monitor Rangernet activities. The room itself looked like a scaled-down version of a spacecraft command center, complete with its own perpetually on gigantic display.

Although there was no one present in that room right now, the display provided an amazing sight nearly every time one looked at it.

This screen showed exactly what the Rangernet satellites were seeing – call it remote sensing if you will, but what it really shows is the Aura map of whatever the sensors are pointing towards. False colored to give the distinction between human, Pokémon, vegetation and the like, these images reveled a lot of things that the eyes could not…and cleared up much of the confusion which often resulted from plain photographic remote sensing.

Right now, it was focused on the southeastern Sinnoh region, directly at the center of the Valor Lakefront hotel.

On the screen, were marked four yellow dots (symbolizing humans), one blue dot – (representing a locked Pokémon signal; Pikachu in this case), and three purple dots, one near and two at a little distance; which identified Legendary Pokémon.

The system automatically zoomed in and altered the angle of the display. The dots disappeared into images, a motion capture of false color, and individual faces could now be identified and focused upon.

This was exactly what happened; in a span of a few minutes, each worried face had been neatly labeled and verified.

The system moved on below the valley to gather information about a strange Groudon-like machine. However, it was clear that this was, indeed a machine – the advantage of the Aura detection was that it couldn't be visually fooled; there was a clear indication of a presence of two humans and a Pokémon _inside _the walking behemoth.

* * *

**1200 Hours,**

**Indigo Plateau,  
Kanto**

Meir stepped out of his house into the backyard taking deep breath of the fresh air, while closing the door behind him gently. His eyes met a sight of never-ending land, diverse in its terrain features. At some places there was rocky ground, some portion was grassland. In between, there were various ponds and lakes, all systematically, yet naturally laid out over the sprawling estate. It wasn't unlike the Oak corral in Pallet town; this was the place where Meir, Bliss and the Kanto/Johto Elite Four deposited their Pokémon populations – ready to be called upon at any time, yet free to coexist in harmony in nature's bowl.

Few people had such facilities really – only professional trainers were granted such premises, which served as self-contained daycare centers. The rest generally kept their extra Pokémon at home or deposited them in the Global Storage System, in the form of data.

The chartreuse-eyed adult stood there quietly for a while, contemplating his decision. Whatever it led to, it would be interesting – _far _better than sitting out in the house and doing nothing at all, while others had the thrill of adventure pursuing them. There was never a quiet day was there?

Striding further down a lightly disguised trail, Meir suddenly stopped and glanced up at a Pokémon perched on a tall rock. The creature was a humongous bird, longer than six feet in length. At first glanced; it would seem as if you're looking at a ravaging flame. In truth, it is none other than a Legendary Moltres, a Pokémon said to be the natural guardian of the fire element.

Of course, this was by no means _the _Moltres of the Orange archipelago – that particular bird was the inherent personification of Earth's fire element…the one whose flame adorned the Indigo and Evergrande conferences in the western hemisphere. The Moltres perched on the rock was a mere "mirror"of the true specimen. However, this did not mean it didn't posses Legendary attributes; it can be considered to be equivalent in terms of strength to the 'true' firebird residing of Fire Isle.

Meir waved at the bird – something had gone right today, and that was Moltres. The Pokémon, in turn, acknowledged his wave, and with one swift motion of its wings, flew up to him. Most other people would have been undoubtedly intimidated by its appearance up close, but the temperature didn't heat

up the slightest around our human character; being a wielder of flame, Moltres was able to precisely control it's fire and prevent it from burning those whose spirits were 'pure' – now that was something subjective enough which led to a few gray areas, but that's another story.

'I didn't expect to see you here, buddy.' Meir said grinning, yet bowing slightly at the same time. However well you know a Legendary Pokémon, it's always better to have a visible air of respect for it around you. The Pokémon who preserve balance are not ordinary, and shouldn't be treated that way either.

But, asking them a favor – that's generally not denied unless it involves destroying the world, and provided that you're likable enough.

'Are you up for a trip to Hoenn, Moltres?' Meir asked, looking directly into the eyes of the bird; it was something that proved to be difficult for both of them – the blazing flame was deeply hypnotizing, as were the brilliant pair of chartreuse eyes. The little staring contest was interrupted by Moltres, who gave a cry of approval. Meir took this as a cue to hop gently on top of the bird – it certainly did provide more leg space than his Pidgeot – which he was planning to use earlier.

Once again, the flames didn't burn him (or his clothes) the slightest. They actually gave him a soothing, tickling effect; and his pupils soon contracted to adjust to the intense blaze. Meir finished adjusting himself, and gave out his next "command";

'On to Petalburg City!'

A sweeping motion of wings, and the duo soon blinked out of visible range, heading dead south. It remained to be seen how May's parents would take the news…of course, he had a lot of explaining to do, but Meir was probably the best suited person for this job – he had already met Delia and Johanna, and they had taken it rather well. May's case, however, was slightly different though; slippery like butter.

'_So much for supersonic travel.'_ Meir thought, the wind wafting through his hair as Flight Moltres sped on.

* * *

**Valor Lakefront,  
Southeastern Sinnoh**

The minds of the Team Rocket trio were already starting to doubt the credibility of their 'capture a legendary' scheme. Now that they were already right in the middle of their plans (literally!), they didn't have much of an option to turn back. Why should they anyway? They're Team Rocket after all!

'Hey Jessie,' James said, indicating the redhead seated in front of him, 'what's going on outside?'

Jessie didn't reply, her eyes concealed by the periscope.

'Jess?'

Jessie opened her mouth to speak, but thought the better of it. She grabbed her teammate (rather roughly at that), and stuffed his eyes into the periscope.

If you think that James saw something shocking, it was an understatement. You can't have things more surprising than having a giant of a whale look at you, with a golden Hyperbeam resting in its mouth.

James didn't get much time to look as the feline member of the team pushed his face aside to see through the periscope himself. Predictably, he too, registered a state of shock; with that familiar anticipation of another _blast-off. _

What the three of them didn't understand, was that Kyogre didn't fire the Hyperbeam. Instead, the great whale cancelled the attack, as if it seemed to understand that the machine was nothing more than a fake, harmless replica of its arch-rival.

Inside "Groudon"fear turned into anger; the change taking place at the speed of light.

'How DARE he ignore us!' Jessie screamed. James and Meowth felt a shiver of fear running down their spine.

'Meowth, release the net!'

'Da' net is released!'

Overlooking the scene, the "Twerp Quartet" watched with astonishment as a fisherman's net of gigantic proportions shot out of the "Groudon". What seemed like another pathetic attempt at a capture turned out to have a surprisingly effective mechanism. The great whale was not only trapped in the net, but a high tension electric current surged through it, electrocuting Kyogre. Time seemed to coagulate during the entire scene, as the whale poured out deep shrieks of agony.

'They're hurting Kyogre!' Ash exclaimed, turning his head sideways and looking at his three comrades. It may have been interesting to study these reactions, but there wasn't any time.

Dawn looked at the whale, surprised yet…_mystified. _Brock wore his usual "serious look" which he displays when something goes wrong, only more intense this time. May however…she was looking around for something else, aware of what had just happened, but still distracted.

'Has anyone seen Manaphy?' She asked, panicking.

Ash looked around, the electrocution had stopped now, but there seemed to be no way of telling what had happened. The smoke around Kyogre was so thick; he refocused his efforts to find Manaphy. The blue Pokémon seemed to have vanished somewhere - he'd have to get moving.

'Come on guys.' Ash said, as Pikachu and May quickly followed him down to the lower levels of the hotel. Dawn stayed for the sake of her leg, and Brock did come either to give the former some company.

Before he left, Ash's eyes connected briefly with Dawn's. At that very moment, they seemed understand each other perfectly. They both knew what they had to do, what their role was, and how to proceed. No words, no gestures were necessary as the blue-haired girl's eyes widened in shock; realizing what had just happened.

'_Did I just sense Ash's aura?'_

Speeding downwards, Ash, May and Pikachu arrived at the base of the hotel in record time. Wasting no time, Ash threw Riolu's Pokeball in the air, calling out the Emanation Pokémon.

It was just then that Kyogre's ear-piercing screech echoed throughout the beach. The smoke cleared, and every human and Pokémon present (including Heatran, who watched all this from the sidelines), laid their eyes on the great whale.

The height of Kyogre's anger wasn't at all pleasant to observe; especially to the three seated inside the mechanical Groudon.

Back at the Indigo Plateau, AVIERC blared an ear-shattering alarm. Although no one was present to witness it, the giant screen encircled a particular dot located on the sea. An instance of bold text appeared beside it.

The Text said: "Unstable Aural Activity, Threat level 1."

Below that, several additional notifications quickly appeared. Rangernet was in a state of alarm.

Afterword:

Well, this chapter didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to be. Very short on the whole, I hope it did serve well as an interlude of sorts. I'm still lacking enough emotion in the story and I've got to find a way to add that without compromising on ever-important (well at least for me) details.

Review, tell me what else seemed to be lacking here; I can't quite figure it out.


	16. Unbreakable Bonds

A/N:

Major thanks you two.

Finally, this chapter contains more dialogue; thus, some more explanations. Read on! And to my other readers – please leave a review! I'll need a lot more feedback to improve this story.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Unbreakable Bonds

* * *

_RANGERNET, MAY 23 – 2050_

_AURA DETECTION SYSTEM_

_# B – 2050 – L – 02_

**Current Situation: **Critical. Unstable Aura frequencies detected.

**Subject: **Kyogre (Prime), Legendary (Form 2)

**Possible Reason(s): **Illegal Intervention

**Action: **Initializing automatic defensive parameters…

* * *

Kyogre unleashed a golden beam of light upon his fake nemesis. Furious, every square inch of his gigantic figure portrayed rage and hatred for those who had used the intense electric current on him.

It was that very second that Team Rocket did something they'd remember for the rest of their lives. _They fled…successfully. _Not wanting to get blasted off by this whale, they actually managed to abandon their mechanical Groudon before the golden beam could obliterate it. With their motor neurons on a wildfire of activity, they accomplished an impossible task; jumping out of "Groudon's" control center in the short time span of five seconds. The next moment, they began their run towards a patch of trees – in the direction of Sunnyshore City.

At that very instance, time seemed to freeze as the golden beam which Kyogre held in its mouth was unleashed with intense fury. The Hyperbeam struck "Groudon" dead center, and the mechanical figure exploded; the heat and derbies flying in all directions.

One such large piece accelerated towards the place where Ash, May, Pikachu and Riolu were watching the scene, too awe-struck to notice. Just a second before the chunk of metal landed, the four victims looked upwards towards it, dazed. A flurry of emotions ran through their heads, instinctively clutching each other for protection. It seemed as if lightning had just flowed through their bodies.

Subconsciously, they began to feel everything around them. Time was non-existent for them this one second; every hope, every dream, and every single thought they had ever felt flooded through their entire body. All their love, hate and passion seemed to concentrate at one concise focus. What happened later, no-one would ever have guessed.

Three beams of colorless pure energy collided, their vibrations starkly visible in the background of the graying horizon. One came from the heavens, one from the Hotel's balcony and a very thick one from the endangered quartet. The large metal chunk was now on its final trajectory. These three beams unified to provide what seemed to a shield of plasma, protecting Ash, Pikachu, May and Riolu from getting utterly crushed. As they regained their senses, the quartet felt a sweeping gush of wind.

'Gardevoir, Teleport!'

Those were the last words the group heard before passing out, exhausted.

* * *

Ash Ketchum opened his eyes very slowly. He quickly shut them as soon as the first rays of light reached his retina. He stopped, and listened to his breathing. It was normal.

Tightening his fist, his hands gripped the surface they rested on – it was soft. At this, memory came flooding back to him; his mind somehow managed to figure out that he was in a hotel room. He felt drained of energy, yet seemed to be regaining it rather quickly, considering how immobile he had felt just a few seconds ago.

His mind started racing…Kyogre, Team Rocket, the Groudon, and…

'May, Riolu! Pikachu!' he let out, suddenly surprising himself by sitting up. He didn't feel drained anymore; his weariness had mysteriously vanished. Finally opening his eyes, he met the sight of the small blue fox that leaped into Ash's arms affectionately. Not for the first time, he could feel the radiance perpetually being emanated by his Riolu.

Refocusing himself, he looked around. He was, indeed, in a hotel room, placed gently on a soft bed. Another second later, the familiar weight of Pikachu embraced his shoulder.

'You alright buddy?' he asked, glancing at him.

'Pi…ka.'

'_He's tired, but otherwise fine.' _Ash translated mentally. There was one more person to look towards, but she somehow always finds him first anyway. At least he managed to pick up his hat and fix it on his head again before she noticed.

'Ash, are you awake?' asked May, getting up slowly from a bed a few meters away from his. She too, seemed to have the same tired, yet otherwise perfectly alright look on her.

'What happened back there?'

May shrugged. She looked around the room, taking it into full view. The room was quite luxurious – the kind to be expected room Sinnoh's best resort. Unfortunately, the hotel was pretty much totally empty right now; they seemed to be in a double suite – there was a door, slightly open, that apparently led to another room.

'Let's go through there May.'

'OK.' May said, quickly scanning the room once more. Her expression changed to a frown after she completed doing so.

'There's still no sign of Manaphy, is there?'

'Don't worry May,' Ash said, sympathetically. He motioned to the door, 'I think we'll find our answers there.'

Nodding apprehensively, yet reassured, the two of them got up (along with Pikachu and Riolu), and walked over to the door. Before they got there, however, Ash felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, his eyes met May's, who seemed to be a little hesitant.

'Thanks for saving us Ash…at least I think you saved us.' May began, her sapphire eyes now clearly displaying some kind of reluctance.

'Anytime May!' Ash said cheerfully, 'That is, if I _did _save us somehow…'

'Ash, there's something I should tell you…'

'Huh? Sure.' Ash asked her, wondering what this was about. She had been quieter than usual (by her standards at least) for a few days, maybe there was something amiss…well he would help her of course – she was one of his best friends after all.

'You see…' May continued, but was interrupted by a voice inside the door.

'Brock, she's premature for Aura handling – she's only ten!' the voice whispered.

'Aura handling? Does that mean what I think it means, Bliss?' said Brock's voice.

May halted as she heard that. It seemed that she'd have to wait a little longer to talk to Ash.

'Later Ash.' she said, as both of them entered through the door into another, identical room. The curtains were open here; the sunlight was still shining through the clouds. They couldn't have been knocked out for long, could they?

'Hello Ash! You too May.' Brock said, later nodding in acceptance at Riolu and Pikachu. A blue figure soon popped out from behind Bliss (who was standing next to a bed – apparently, Dawn hadn't woken up yet), leaping into May's arms; she instinctively caught it.

'Manaphy! Where did you wander off to?' May asked, her voice full of concern – but with a bit of anger mixed in.

'Don't blame Manaphy, May,' Bliss said, gently striding over to them, 'He's the reason why Kyogre's not on a rampage anymore.'

May didn't reply. She simply looked at the blue Pokémon in her arms and held on to it tightly; Manaphy reciprocating the touch. Finally, she turned back to Bliss, nodding slightly. There was a bit of uncertain silence after that.

'What happened back there?' came the inevitable question, this time from Ash's mouth.

Bliss sighed, motioning towards Brock.

'Only he knows the whole story – I was busy tending to you guys after you…fainted.'

The three of them looked at the Breeder, waiting for answers. Brock shook his head, gesturing to one of the beds in the room. Dawn's blue hair was clearly visible, but the rest of her figure was concealed underneath a white blanket.

'Let's wait until she wakes up.'

'When will she wake up?' asked May, while gently allowing Manaphy onto the floor.

'Whenever you and Ash want her to.' Bliss replied. Six pairs of eyeballs shot up to her at once, univocally demanding an explanation for the ridiculous comment. She sighed, and went over to a Dawn's bed, placing a palm on the young coordinator's forehead.

'Looks like I've got a story to tell along with Brock.' She said, looking up at them. 'But I think he's right – we need to wake Dawn up first.'

Upon hearing this, the whole grouped instinctively moved closer to Dawn's bed. As he moved closer, Ash could somehow tell what Bliss meant, as he felt waves of energy transverse between him and the blue-haired coordinator. It was at that moment that he realized something…this wasn't like the warm, elevating and almost…_uncomfortable_ aura that seemed to reach him when he was in contact with May, this was…different, like the emotion he always felt when he came in contact with his Mom, or even Pikachu!

Interrupting his thoughts was the sound of a rather loud yawn, followed by the words, 'Is it morning already?'

* * *

**1800 Hours, UTC**

**Petalburg City,  
Hoenn**

A lightning fast fireball landed with perfect precision at the backyard of the Petalburg Gym. Shaking the weariness from the long and fast flight, he quickly slipped off of the Legendary Bird.

'Thanks Moltres, I owe you one!'

Moltres didn't reply, but simply took off again – heading for the skies above. His chartreuse eyes watched The Bird go; following it until Moltres was no longer in sight, concealed by the clouds. Turning his eyes towards the Petalburg Gym, he walked towards the front door.  
As he reached there, however, he paused. The sound of a television could be clearly heard. Collecting his senses, he confirmed his suspicions that it was indeed '_Sinnoh Now!' _at news hour.

'_They must be damn worried,' _Meir thought, a frown creeping up to his face. '_That's _a_ll the more of a reason to explain the situation to them.'_

Collecting himself, he placed his finger on the doorbell button, pressing it gently. A dull "Ting-tong" was heard; which was followed by the tapping of feet from inside the house. Meir's above-average senses could pick up some kind muttering from the inside.

'That must be the fifth challenger today!' the voice was unmistakably that of a child. In went on, 'Dad's had a pretty busy day already and…'  
The door opened, and Meir had to suppress a smirk.

'Meir Aurora!' said the spectacled boy, undoubtedly shocked. The boy had his usual green clothes on, and his black hair had a tinge of blue mixed in. It was clear that he'd just entered puberty, and was undergoing a substantial growth spurt. That made for an added comedic value to his reaction upon opening the door.

'_What was his name again?' _Meir thought, recalling what Bliss had told him about May's family. He knew Norman of course, Caroline too, and May's brother was called…

'Max I presume?' Meir asked the boy, 'If you don't mind, I'd like to have a conversation with your parents.'

Max blinked. Meir knew _his _name? Just what was going on here? Nevertheless, he didn't forget his manners, and promptly invited Meir into the house; realization dawning on to him as his attitude suddenly changed to something more formal but "fanboy-ish" nonetheless.

'Mom! Dad! The World Champion's here to visit!' Max's voice rang through the house. Getting no response, he gave a sigh. Turning to Meir (who seemed to be examining the house/gym with interest), he said, 'Sorry sir, Mom and Dad probably think I'm joking.'

Meir chuckled. 'Max, please don't call me "sir"; I'm younger than your parents for Ho-oh's sake. Just call me Meir, that's all.'

Max nodded. 'Well Meir, let me show you to the living room – they're watching "Sinnoh Now". You see, my sister is stuck in that area and –'

'- and that's exactly why I wish to see them.' Meir replied, his expression turning a little serious. 'But don't worry about that right now; May has very good friends and all of them are in safe hands.'

Max, awestruck once more, chose not to reply. He didn't need to anyway, as they had arrived at the living room. Norman and Caroline immediately turned their heads, and displayed shock – not because Meir was here, but more because Max wasn't joking about it. Shaking it off, Norman walked over to greet the former.

'How nice of you to visit Meir…it's been years hasn't it?' he asked, shaking his hands.

'You didn't think I'd forget my first League opponent now, did you?'

'Well you still beat me even if it was your first League battle.' Norman retorted. 'Anyway, I think you met Caroline back then –'Meir nodded politely to her, while she reciprocated ' – but I still have to say I've no idea why you came here; not that it's a bad thing though.'

Mier motioned towards the screen, which was displaying something about the active situation in southeastern Sinnoh. The channel's news didn't show any recent developments, however, so it wasn't worth watching or listening to right now.

'_That's _what I've come here to talk about.' Meir said. Norman glanced at his wife briefly, before requesting Meir to sit down. He also turned off the TV. Meir didn't waste any time though, he started off immediately.

'I suppose you heard about the unnatural storm that's cropped up in Sinnoh?'

'Of course.' Caroline replied, 'Actually our daughter's there and we're, well -'

'Worried? Of course you are and you've got the right to be.' Meir said, looking distractedly at his fingers. He then looked up, into their eyes one by one.  
'The point is that May isn't alone there; there's something far greater at work, which I'd like to discuss. I believe it's called Love.'

* * *

**Southeastern Sinnoh**

Dawn finished adjusting her white hat, and checked her reflection in the mirror one last time. Opening the door, she quietly stepped out of the room. Following the hotel corridor, she emerged onto the platform where everyone else stood, waiting for her.

'Hey Dawn!' Ash said, Pikachu now on his soldier. As Bliss had requested, all of their Pokémon were out of their Pokeballs. The evening had begun to set in slowly, but the Sun hadn't set in the sky just yet. Overlooking the sea, Kyogre was nowhere to be found although Heatran was clearly visible – a gigantic rock-like figure, lazily lying on the beach.

That was the very problem they had to address; Heatran was still on the beach, and Kyogre was going to come back soon enough for round two.

'We're all here now.' Bliss noted, looking around the group and the Pokémon.

'I'll explain what happened a few hours ago.' said Brock. Taking a deep breath, he began.

'After Ash and May went down to search for Manaphy, who was missing, Dawn,' Brock turned to look at the coordinator, 'did the weirdest thing I've ever seen.'

'What?'

'She…fell asleep, on the ground. I didn't know what to do. Back then, I thought she had a medical condition or something – but that wasn't it. She could somehow tell what was about to happen, and the next second there was this huge explosion.'

'Really?' asked Dawn, her expression showing genuine surprise. 'I don't remember anything.'

'I'm not surprised. Go ahead Brock, I'll explain what I mean after he finishes.' Bliss said.

'After that, Team Rocket launched an electrical net on Kyogre, it got really angry seeing that it's a water type, and attacked their robot with a Hyperbeam.' Brock said. 'It was really scary too – seeing Kyogre that angry, I thought that we were next. But anyway, before that, there was this piece of metal which was going to crush Ash, May, Pikachu and Riolu. Team rocket seemed to have escaped though.'

'And then that strange thing happened.' May said, partially speaking to herself in recollection.

'Yeah, it was like seeing, I donno, some kind of energy shield being formed in mid-air. It was formed by three "beams" or something. Whatever those beams were, it was easy to tell that one came from Dawn – who was still unconscious at that time, one from Ash – or May, or even both.' Brock paused for a bit.

'The last one, seemed to come from the sky, but I wasn't able to see from where. I'm guessing that maybe it was –'

'It wasn't me Brock, I came a whole minute after this just happened.' Bliss answered. She knew that it was probably Rangernet's automated defense, but wasn't quite sure she needed to specify that.

'Then where did it come from?' asked Ash, his curious side once again in full swing. I surprised him how these things seem to interest him – it was usually food and Pokémon that came to his attention first.

'It came from a system designed to manipulate and detect Aura – and probably to help save you guys.' Bliss motioned to Ash and May, who were looking at each other with a "that's something new" expression.

Brock nodded thoughtfully. 'Whatever it was, the shield protected you guys and soon Bliss flew over on Dragonite – I mean Ditto – and used her Gardevoir to teleport you all back up here – unconscious of course.'

'What about Kyogre? How did he calm down?' asked May.

'Manaphy used Heart Swap on Kyogre just after you teleported. It has calmed him down, and he's gone back into the ocean. But -' he paused, not quite sure how to voice his feelings.

'But he'll come back if he senses Heatran's presence.' Bliss continued, motioning towards the direction of the Legendary Pokémon lying on the beach, 'Which is why we need to send him back to Stark Mountain before things get ugly again.

The group nodded in agreement. That is, all except Dawn who seemed to be lost in thought.

'But, I don't get it Bliss,' she said, 'How come I could do that? I knew Ash could sense Aura, but me too?'

'Everyone has the power to do what you just did, but not everyone can use it so easily.'

'Then why was I able to use it so easily?'

Bliss smiled. 'It's because You, Ash and May have an unbreakable bond. You are soulmates – just like the three Pokémon who inhibit the Lakes of Sinnoh.'

'_And singularities, but that's not important right now.'_ Bliss thought, before facing a very confused group of teens and a pre-teen, who were bewildered about the surrealistic nature of what had just been told to them. Ash however, he seemed to suddenly realize something. Images began forming in his mind…him nearly drowning in the Sea Temple, him getting lost in Giratina's dimension…two different voices calling out to him in two different ways…

All said and done, Bliss could have sworn that she had seen a reflection near the sand; something with a light and dark blue coloration , hastily making its way towards the direction of the distant Mount Cornet.

* * *

Afterword:

Let's see now.

By this time Meir has told Norman and Caroline (Max too, I suppose) "almost" everything, but Bliss hasn't told our young friends (much) yet. The simple reason why you don't know what the Petalburg pair does now is because you'll get a better explanation later on…but I think Bliss has said enough to keep the story going for a bit.

Time for some much needed action on the next chapter… the Twerps vs. Heatran showdown!


	17. Forward Assult

A/N:

I don't really have much to say about the reviews, except thanks and keep reading!

- - - - - - - - -

Chapter 17: Forward Assault

- - - - - - - - -

Twilight began to set across the continent of Hoenn. The stars popped out, sparkling in all their glory, lighting up the night sky – an eternal reminder that turbulence in the Pokémon World means little in the grand scheme of things. Yet the relative tiny size of the stars signifies that even the smallest and most insignificant event in the Universe is of great importance to those affected by it; be it a tiny microbe or even an entire planet.

The repercussions of Sinnoh's chaotic event were certainly those that worried its native population. However, this event had even affected the minds of the family residing at Petalburg Gym; a reflection of the message the stars were giving them. The lights of the Petalburg Gym shut down, one by one. Four figures stepped out on the grass the backyard. Out of them, one emanated a sense of satisfaction while the three others were lost in a mixture of wonder, astonishment and disbelief. Yet, they knew what had been told to them was a hundred per-cent true – the truth is quite obvious once you know what it is.

Meir Aurora gazed into the night sky, closing his eyes. It had been an interesting conversation for sure – but May's family seemed to have accepted the truth better than he had expected. Of course, what he had told them was just a fragment of the truth – he made a point never to explain something he himself didn't understand fully; his experience had taught him that doing so would result in a complicated mess which would be difficult to sort out.  
His mind completed an inner search of the surrounding region – Moltres wasn't nearby anymore, so he'd have to fly on his Pidgeot. Automatically, his hand reached towards Pidgeot's Pokeball, and he flung it out to reveal the large, feathery, cream-colored bird. Nodding to May's family, he mounted on his large bird.

'Don't worry; I'm sure she's alright.' Meir said, smiling gently. He turned to Pidgeot and whispered something in the bird's ear. A flap of wings later, both of them disappeared, this time heading northeast.

* * *

**Southeastern Sinnoh**

'It's awfully quiet here.' May said, looking at the nearly deserted beach. Heatran was the only visible presence there under the dusk sky; a gigantic unmoving rock figure, cautiously lying a little further away from the shore due to the tides.

'Let's keep it that way.' Bliss replied, her hand grasping the railing as she looked in the direction of the legendary fire-turtle.

'Bliss?' asked May, tentatively.

'Mm?'

'Um…never mind.'

Bliss looked at the brunette coordinator. A sense of confusion was apparent on her features and it was quite easy to make out that she was at unease.

'Don't worry, May,' Bliss said reassuringly. 'I understand what's on your mind better than you think.'

May looked up at the Grand Coordinator, her eyes full of hope and relief. She wasn't quite certain _how _she should voice her emotions at present…but she had to. She was sure that very few people in the world had to go through this "Destiny Tangle", but somehow, it was quite apparent to her that Bliss Aurora was one of them.

But, Bliss merely shook her head. 'I've already told you, any more answers will have to wait until this fiasco is over.' She turned her sights towards the beach again; a little smile of understanding was visible on her face. 'Don't worry, May,' she said, 'you _will _get your answers…sooner than you think.'

'Hey guys!' called out Brock's voice. 'Dinner's ready!'

The Breeder stepped out of the hotel kitchen and onto the platform where May and Bliss were standing. Presumably, Ash and Dawn were already inside the not-so-abandoned-anymore restaurant. Brock seemed to be cheerful today, and that was for mainly two reasons. First things first, he had a complete gourmet kitchen to cook in today and –

'Ivysaur's been a real help Bliss, thanks for lending him.' Brock said, turning to the older woman.

'You're welcome Brock.' Bliss grinned sheepishly, pointing to herself. 'I'm so clumsy around the kitchen that I can't cook if my life depended on it.'

'I guess training Ivysaur was a great idea.' May said, attempting to distract herself from her unanswered thoughts.

'Yeah, but he needs to keep his distance from the fire.' Bliss said, starting to walk towards the restaurant adjacent to the kitchen. Opening the door they found Dawn who was looking at an elaborately decorated map of the Sinnoh region, which had another gorgeous marker locating the hotel's position. Ash wasn't here though, but his voice could be heard through the door; he was clearly having a chat with Bliss's Ivysaur, probably requesting it to cook something of his choice (although he wasn't too picky about food, just as long as there was a lot of it).

'Hey everyone.' Dawn said cheerfully, turning to the group which had just entered. They returned her greeting, May and Bliss pulling up a chair and sitting down on a table. Dawn walked over and sat next to Bliss while Brock proceeded back into the kitchen. Just as the Breeder went in, Ash walked out, beaming, and a shrub-like Pokémon accompanied him, carrying a couple of plates using its Vine Whip attack.

'Hey Ash,' Dawn said as the former took a seat between May and Bliss, 'How much did you eat already?'

Before the trainer could speak, his stomach gave a squeal of dissatisfaction. May and Bliss instantly grinned while Ash looked a little embarrassed.

'Does that answer your question Dawn?' May said. 'Obviously, he didn't eat enough.'

'Actually, I didn't eat anything.' Ash replied, May seemed to note that he was avoiding her gaze for some reason and felt strangely uncomfortable as the trainer started to speak. His voice still had the confident tone but it seemed to be a little…preoccupied.  
'I was just…thinking.'

'Well Ash, I must congratulate you on this remarkable achievement.' Brock said, entering the dining area from the kitchen. A little laughter soon followed, and everyone soon dug in. Amidst the sound of clattering plates and forks, it was Bliss who launched the inevitable conversation.

'Okay everyone, who's going to help me and Ash take care of Heatran?' she asked, in a conversational not-too-serious tone. Even so, that only increased the outcome of that statement to become more serious than was intended. The reaction was immediate.  
'I'll come along.' May said, with a certain amount of finality in her tone which didn't leave room for argument. Bliss and Ash nodded. This time Ash and May's eyes did meet, but a strange intensity formed so quickly between them that they had to pull away almost instantly.

'Dawn's not going though.' Ash said, shaking his head.

'But-'

'Mana!' Manaphy had come walking out of the kitchen along with Pikachu. The sea blue Pokemon leapt into May's arms, and raised its two biological antennas in opposite directions.

A red-pink field began to form in the restaurant. Gradually, two semitransparent "screens" formed in mid-air – one on each of the opposite ends of the room. The air molecules were made to behave, and changed color depending on the intensity of the red-pink light that was emitted from Manaphy's "sensors" in much the same way an LCD displays moving pictures, but this was far more enchanting.  
One of these "screens" displayed an image of the Pokémon Heatran. It seemed to be in the process of waking up and getting on its feet.  
On the other screen, a giant whale figure could be seen, shrouded by a pink colored ocean. Kyogre seemed to be sleeping, but naturally, this sleep wasn't going to last long. Rays of moonlight could be seen on either sides of its monolithic figure – evidently the whale hadn't gone so deep into the ocean.

This was, without a doubt, a fitting warning. The screens soon dissolved seamlessly back into the air, as Manaphy gave a sigh of relief. Everyone on the table got up - slowly, yet they were clear on what they were supposed to do.

It was fighting time.

* * *

The quartet approached Heatran, their footsteps cautious, yet swift. Well, that's all except one of them – Dawn was limping very slightly but was able to keep up despite the obviously strained expression on her face. Bliss overrode Ash's insistence on her staying back; of course, that was her own responsibility – but no one argued back since they had all seen what Dawn could do. Hell, it was about time she had a taste of the frontline again. Brock was given the job of monitoring the area to check for Kyogre's presence with Manaphy.

'He's awake alright.' Bliss said, motioning to the giant figure dimly. The others simply nodded.  
'Alright, Ash and May – go over to the other side, Dawn come with me.'

The quartet split themselves into two separate groups. Ash and May, grabbing hands, attempted to quickly circle around Heatran (who was becoming aware of their presence), along with Pikachu. The two looked like a blur of black and brown (curtsey of their respective shirts) on the golden sand. Dawn and Bliss attempted to cover the other semicircle. In a minute, the two groups were on opposite sides of Heatran, who was fully aware of their presence.

'Alright guys!' Bliss called out. 'We've to weaken it enough so that one of us can –'

'Grrr!' Heatran rumbled, interrupting Bliss. The Legendary fire-turtle was not pleased at the pesky humans, who dared to disturb his solitude. Ancient instincts were relit like a fire within him. He had but one focus now – and that was to crush utterly his new arch-nemesis. These _intruders _in the field had no business near him and had to be dealt with. Processing this rumble, the quartet proceeded to take out their Pokeballs and toss them up in the air. Out popped Blaziken, Eevee, Riolu, Staraptor, Lucario and Piplup.

'Dawn, here!' Ash said, throwing the young coordinator a Pokeball. Obviously, it would be difficult for him to control three Pokémon at once, so he passed Buizel to Dawn who would be able to command him just as well. Dawn released Buizel as soon as she got it, and the sea-otter Pokémon assumed battle stance.  
Heatran looked confused with all the Pokémon neatly surrounding it – but that was just for a short while. Roaring with a sound that made shockwaves of sand ripple across the beach, its large shell ignited with a violent flame, and the temperature around it began to rapidly grow hotter.

'Let's go everyone! Staraptor, use Brave Bird and Riolu use Force Palm!' Ash commanded. The large bird instantly followed orders as it lit up in a brilliant blue. Riolu began to focus its Aura on its palm, thrusting it out with immense force. Both attacks landed directly on Heatran's posterior, destabilizing it for a while.

But that was only a while. The intense flames rose up again, and this time Heatran didn't look as tolerant as he did before.

'Uh oh.' Ash said, a little anxious at the outcome of this small exchange. He was cut off by two other voices.

'Eevee use Shadow Ball and Blaziken go with Sky Uppercut!' came out May's voice. Eevee responded a little slowly, although in sufficient time, with a large pulsating dark ball which impacted lightly on Heatran's face. Blaziken, however swiftly lifted up its humanoid figure, using gravity's acceleration to deliver a forceful blow on the giant turtle. Heatran's monolithic figure swayed and it barely managed to stand on its legs.

'Piplup use Whirlpool and Buizel you use Water Pulse!' Dawn called out a moment later. The two water attacks combined to form a giant sparkly, spiraling column of water. The angular momentum of the attack created by Piplup's Whirlpool caused the water column to segregate a second before impact, delivering an even – yet forceful – blow on Heatran's figure. That turned to be the last straw as the turtle collapsed to the ground. It was hidden by a steam of intense smoke; caused by the evaporation of the water attacks as they landed on the flaming body.

'Is he knocked out?' asked Dawn.

'I don't think so.' Ash said. He turned to where Bliss was – she seemed to be busy rapidly typing something on her PDA. Beside her, Lucario stood with his eyes closed and Aura Sensors actively searching inside the smoky field. Bliss nodded to Ash.

'I've recalibrated your Pokedex so that you can carry more than six Pokeballs for now.' She said. Ash looked at her, confused. 'I don't have any extra Ultraballs, so you go ahead and capture Heatran and I'll take him back to Stark Mountain.'

Ash nodded and lightly threw the Pokeball inside the smoke field. The familiar sound of Pokeball's mechanism could be heard as it attempted to capture the legendary turtle. The quartet was deadly quiet as the ball worked its magic, fighting with Heatran's energy-state as it attempted to lock him.

However, Heatran is a Legendary Pokémon. They are termed Legendary for a good reason – and no matter how you try, it is difficult to subdue them as it is to subdue nature; they _are _nature. Heatran proved this to our quartet as the foursome witnessed the Pokeball explode. Not just rejecting the capture – it literally shattered into a million pieces. The energy-state Heatran once again assumed its natural material form.

It was déjà vu as the quartet saw the height of Heatran's anger – striking that same sense of majesty and fear into their hearts. The lava-dome on its body pulsated with intense rage, pumping out scattered pieces of magma. The Magma Storm attack was focused on Fire's enemy. All the basic laws of nature came into play as Heatran's instincts instilled hatred for the Water in his mind, his rage driving away all rational thought.

Water was blue, and the nearest source of the color blue was … the azure new dress which adorned May's figure.

Shards of molten rock flew towards the stunned young coordinator at lightning fast speed, as May braced herself for impact – the day was ending in the same way it had began, more or less. But this time – this time no magical shield formed to protect her. Instead, what did save her was a simple push which was given by a dark figure. The flaming attack revealed that person to be Ash – but what really prevented him from becoming his namesake was a giant stream of water, rushing into him with the force of an enormous waterfall.

It was at that very moment that Ash felt it – the depth of the connection he had shared with May became apparent. So deep, its bottom couldn't be defined. His heart began pumping blood and adrenaline at a violent rate, but this time, enough blood reached his brain and he didn't pass out. None of them did. Instinctively, Ash grabbed another Pokeball and threw it at Heatran, and this time he was sure it would work – something told him so. He threw the still struggling Pokeball the Bliss – he seemed to be able to sense her presence now just like May's, and their thoughts seemed to be clear to one another as if their minds were one for that brief moment.

But what Bliss asked him to do after that – would be something he wouldn't forget. But before that, Kyogre could be seen on the beach once more, plainly reabsorbing seawater after delivering that life-saving Hydro Pump.

* * *

Afterword:

So, Ash did catch Heatran in the end, but naturally, he didn't have it for long. I think the Advanceshippyness will be rather "strong" from the next chapter. 

Stay tuned!


	18. Tidal Wave

A/N: This chapter needed quite a bit of effort to ensure that it remained in flow…I hope I've got it right.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Chapter Eighteen: Tidal Wave

- - - - - - - - - - - -

_Pokeballs: one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Pokemon World. An essential part of its culture, yet so mysterious in many ways. The manufacturing of Pokeballs is a highly refined and simple process, yet, the knowledge of how these devices work is still shrouded in uncertainties. For a long time, this has been a focal point of academic and technological debate. Telepathic Pokemon have been questioned as to how the inside of a Pokeball appears like. This revealed that the nature of these devices is highly configurable – apparently, the energy-state Pokemon experiences a virtual environment formed according to its specification – different for different kinds of Pokemon. _

_The long-standing question of why Pokeballs are unable to capture Humans was answered with the advancement of the study of Auradynamics. Basically, the Pokeballs operate on the same quantum-resonance mechanism which enables Dialga and Palkia to manipulate space-time. The fundamental energy-matter conversion mechanism is similar to that used in the teleporting devices used to transport these Pokeballs over distances. This creates a well-natured compatibility between the Pokémon themselves and Pokeballs – and so, most Pokémon do not complain about living in an apparently cramped space. Humans, who emanate a distinct spectrum of Aura, are incompatible with the Diamond-Pearl cores of these devices. _

_The invention of the Pokedex was another leap forward: Pokeballs are now registered on a decentralized server cluster. This was possible with the invention of the modern Pokedex transportation system – every official trainer has himself registered on a central database. This lists what Pokémon that trainer has caught in his Pokeballs – hence, the official Pokeballs themselves are registered too. At all times, a faint line of connectivity is required between the Pokeballs, the Pokedex (if any) and a server outpost, otherwise the Pokeballs are rendered inoperative – capture, withdrawal and release of Pokémon are not possible – as was witnessed during the LaRousse interference shield. This is why the Pokémon are automatically recalled into their registered Pokeball just by pointing the said Pokeball at them._

_The permanent release of Pokémon requires a trainer to set a release order using his or her Pokedex; The blue energy-bond removal seen when a Pokémon is released confirms it. Apart from a Pokedex, there are a few League-certified "release devices" given to certain professionals which intercept a Pokeball's transmission signal and redirect it to the device, giving a release signal – such a system exists on Bliss's PDA. This is instrumental in setting free wild Pokémon which are captured indiscriminately by different criminal organizations. _

_The exact working of the Pokeball's mechanism may never be fully understood – after all, to understand that is to understand the very nature of the Universe itself – and it's connection to two transdimensional beings._

- - -

The last few minutes had been an absolute blur to May – they seemed to pass by so quickly she could barely grasp their reality. First there was that unexpected event where Heatran burst out of the Pokeball, bare seconds before the ball confirmed capture. What was more surprising was that the fire-turtle managed to whip up its signature attack just a moment after it emerged; Anger had the capability to do great things – even if they couldn't be controlled at times or were done with malicious intentions.  
Even though May could sense the Magma Storm closing in on her at nearly point-blank range, her skeleton froze up and she was unable to do anything – petrified to the core.

It was odd; everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion, yet she couldn't define it accurately. Ash knocked her off, but he became the new target in that process. Whatever she had felt about Ash was _nothing _compared to the intensity of emotion that nearly suffocated her at the very moment the trainer was about to get fried. It constituted of a wave of guilt, a storm of affection and something that she couldn't quite properly define…but it was at that moment that she became conscious about one simple fact: the young trainer meant more to her than the world. All those strange Aura vibrations going on between them seemed to make sense now.

After that, all she remembered was the unexpected Hydro Pump from Kyogre – which did save the trainer's life however unintentional that was. Right now, that was the whole reason Ash was still alive, and it was also responsible for the fact that Heatran was in a Pokeball, securely held in Bliss's hand.

Ash on the other hand…he felt a strange sense of being caught in a comforting whirlpool – partly due to Kyogre water splashing him – but even due to those immoderate waves of emotion he felt which compelled him, beyond all sense of reason, to rescue May, putting his own self in danger instead. Sure, he was the kind of person who put others before himself – he knew that, and couldn't think of any other way it should be – but this felt strangely surreal, heightened by the fact that the action wasn't over yet.

Oh yes, Kyogre was still at large, though momentarily startled by the disappearance of his new rival. Not wasting this closing window of opportunity, Bliss acted quickly, calling out her Dragonite and expertly hopped on top.

'Ash, May and Dawn.' She said, 'I'll meet you at Sunnyshore after I drop off Heatran at Stark Mountain.'

'But wait-'

'Don't worry,' she said, 'I sense that help is on the way. Ash – you, May and Dawn need to defeat Kyogre and calm him down.'

'WHAT?' Ash exclaimed, shocked. Although he did have regular dealings with legendary Pokémon, he wasn't consumed in overconfidence enough to think that he would actually be able to subdue one – especially one as powerful as Kyogre.

But Bliss had already taken off – now a rapidly diminishing silhouette over the northeastern horizon, a few last words managed to echo across the silent night sky.  
'You can do it! Just work together!' After that, the figure vanished, leaving behind a trio of three bewildered kids. Facing them was the increasingly uneasy leviathan.

'Oh great.' Ash said, looking over at Dawn, and later, at Kyogre. Somehow, he could sense that May was in deep thought, and his instincts forbid him to intervene. 'Now what do we do?'

'Come on, no need to worry Ash.' Dawn said lightly. She was unsure of her catchphrase herself but still patted him on the shoulder. It was one of the rare moments of reversal – usually Ash was the one who calmed her down in case of depressing situations. What both of them didn't notice was a jet of which came splashing in on them. Luckily enough, water isn't nearly as damaging as fire is, but the two managed to get considerably wet – in Ash's case, wetter.

Looking up, Kyogre had vanished. The splash of water was apparently caused by one of its fins as the whale descended into the depth of the Sinnoh-Kanto Ocean.

- - -

Glancing up at AVIERC's main display Mier spoke carefully into the precision microphone. Meanwhile, he was typing furiously away at the main console. The main display changed in accordance with the commands Meir gave the Rangernet subsystems, but all of these commands were basically viewing different angles of the beach in Aura vision. Luckily enough, Meir knew exactly what was going on, and was able to relay a message to the one whom he could best connect to – May.

'Alright May, listen.' He said, 'I know it's weird to have a voice inside your head, but you'll need to trust me.'

Meir could almost hear May demanding an explanation, but unfortunately, Rangernet was limited to a one-way communication. Personal telepathy was one of Rangernet's bleeding-edge features which, unfortunately, was still limited to those with powerful harmonic oscillations – in other words, it meant those with distinct Aura signatures. Apart from that, it was unidirectional – from AVIERC to the receiver – as the amplification of the message via the Rangernet systems was essential for the signals to penetrate the receiver's mind. To May, Meir's voice would sound like a fuzzy, guiding fabrication which formed at the back of her mind. She decided to trust the voice, and listen to its advice.

'May, the only way to calm Kyogre down is by the use of a Capture Styler. Fortunately for you guys, Manaphy's heart swap attack has more-or-less the same effect. You don't have much time – if you want the heart swap to succeed in putting Kyogre to sleep again, you'll need to weaken it first.' Meir paused, waiting so that his words were fully processed. Meanwhile, he kept on typing on the console – even though the trio over there couldn't see it, it was evident what Kyogre was going to do. Meir's chartreuse eyes scanned the screen as his pupils dilated with the shock of what he saw. The scale of the Great Whale's next attack was one that could only be truly distinguished from space. Something like this would surely devastate southern Sinnoh and it may even reach out to northern Kanto-Johto.

'Kyogre's preparing to create a tidal wave May! He's probably enraged and confused that Heatran disappeared so suddenly. Use whatever Pokémon you have and focus your attacks directly at the center of the whirlpool! This is the only chance you have,' Meir said, quickly recalling a simple detail, 'Water Pokémon are completely exposed when they're creating a Whirlpool.'

But now there was a problem. The magnetic flux being generated by the intense air vibration was giving some trouble to Rangernet's penetration into southeastern Sinnoh. It wouldn't be long before the entire area experienced a massive electromagnetic surge. This was one of the side effects of a giant whirlpool; the air particles around it were influenced too – and it resulted in total disruption of the aural frequencies. Meir cursed silently, realizing that the next transmission would be the last - for now.

- - -

May could hear the voice, but she realized it was fading quickly. She could sense that it was friendly, and decided to trust it – after all Bliss had said that help would come soon – it could come in form right? The important bit was to recognize help when it came, and this was certainly better than doing nothing about whatever it was that was happening right now.

Something _was _happening right now. The ominous chill in the air, the clouds slowly coming together…only made sense if Kyogre was behind all this. For once, she recalled some of the Hoenn folktales her mom used to tell her. When she saw Kyogre up close before – once during that whole Team Aqua/Magma fiasco, and yet again during the Sea Temple incident…she could never grasp how it had the power to water the _entire planet_! Sure it was pretty big, but compare it to the size of the oceans and it was nothing! Only now was it apparent that Kyogre was, indeed, the master of water.

May could feel a last, broken message attempting to reach the back of her head, '_One last th-thing.' _The voice seemed to come from a badly tuned radio. _'Do not u-use w-a-ter –poke-' _  
The transmission ended.

'Well, it's a good thing that Kyogre's gone now.' Ash said, as he and Dawn walked over to where May was.

'He…isn't gone Ash.' May said, 'And we have to fight him.'

'But May he isn't there anymore –'Ash began.

'Ash, I think that May's right.' Dawn said, glancing up towards the sky. May nodded, and pointed at the circling ocean. 'Kyogre's making a whirlpool – we need to attack right in the middle of it.'

Dawn raised an eyebrow, while Ash asked, 'How do you know?'

May shook her head. She could always tell them later – in truth, she didn't know (yet) whom the voice belonged to, and whoever it was – he seemed to be insistent that whatever they did, they should do it quickly.

'I trust you May.' Ash said simply, a bit of an unexpected response for the coordinator. He nodded to Dawn and she let out her Pachirisu while Ash sent out Grotle, while Riolu was still by his side.  
'Pikachu, get ready.' Ash commanded, as the electric rodent hopped off his shoulder, assuming his attack position. Electricity sparked from its cheek-capacitors, ready to be unleashed onto the great whale. Likewise, Dawn let out Pachirisu, the hyperactive squirrel now focused on Kyogre, as the great whale occasionally came unto the surface during the course of its attack-move.

Manaphy was ready in May's arms. 'You both need to weaken Kyogre enough so that I can have Manaphy use heart swap on it.' She explained. Ash and Dawn nodded, understanding that this might be their only chance to settle this once and for all.  
Over their heads, a storm brewed. Once again, they were surrounded by impenetrable fog – no help, not even Brock, would be able to make it through to them. (Un)Luckily enough, they were right on the shore which gave them a good view of the whale, as it made repeated giant circles in the water, intensifying the Whirlpool.

Observing the rising-falling pattern of the Whirlpool, Ash commanded his Grotle to attack the miniature tides which were coming closer and closer to the shoreline. The shrub-like Pokémon sent out waves after waves of Razor Leafs complimented with energy balls: the overall effect was that it was able to successfully hold off the advancing waters for the moment, yet was unable to affect the whirlpool in any significant way.

Kyogre's mammoth figure could be seen rising and falling in periodic circles, attempting to increase the intensity of the waves which were formed due to the whirlpool. Now would be a good time to attack.

'Alright Pikachu,' said Ash. He pointed at the center of the whirlpool, 'I need you to attack the whirlpool with the most powerful Thunder you've got.'

'Pika!' agreed the rodent, nodding confidently.

'Wait Ash.' May interrupted, grabbing the trainer's hand as she put Manaphy gently on the ground. Quietly, she nodded at the Whirlpool, and then at Riolu – ignoring the burning sensation that had formed in her stomach. Ash looked at her, surprised.  
'Why don't you use Riolu to sense where Kyogre is, then Pikachu and Pachirisu can attack him together.'

'That sounds like a good idea.' Dawn said in agreement. 'Do it Ash!'

Ash nodded to Riolu as the Emanation Pokémon held out its palms, open against the storm of leaves which was protecting them. As the Aura sensors expanded, the trio seemed to be taken into a new world – a false coloration of various different objects – each uniquely resonating a signal. The clearest figure was monolithic in size; it was the progress of Kyogre continually making circles in the water…the circles which were creating the whirlpool. Pikachu and Pachirisu nodded at their trainers, no longer visually uncertain of their target, as the brief "Aura Vision" penetrated the fog, the leaves and the water with ease.

'Wow.' May gripped Ash's hand harder, and he knew what to do – and a second later, the same thought occurred to Dawn and their Pokémon.

With an almighty leap into the air, the two electric rodents attacked the moving whale with their most powerful electric attacks. Yellow and Blue electrical energy combined to form a dazzling silver of vicious intensity. The attack charged towards Kyogre, hitting him dead-on.  
At first, nothing seemed to happen as the whale barely slowed down its movement – the whirlpool hardly lost any of its momentum. As Pikachu and Pachirisu adamantly persisted in their attacks, the silver beam of electricity began to have an effect. As Kyogre slowed down gradually, the large amount of sea water began to rapidly conduct electricity. A dazzling display of current adorned the trio as the silver electricity seemed to bounce back and forth the ripple of the tides.

All of a sudden, the electricity broke, and Kyogre halted in its tracks, and the whirlpool quickly began to fade. The two electric rodents fell down, exhausted from their spectacular efforts – but fortunately they didn't faint. _Un_fortunately, neither did Kyogre. Without command, Riolu leapt up and rammed forcefully into the great whale through the thinning fog – a sense of incredible strength struck the Legendary Pokémon as the small blue blob managed to displace its gigantic body.

'Wow, I had no idea Riolu could do that.' Ash said, and the other two nodded in silent agreement. May gripped Ash's arm to the point of near-pain, and what she didn't know was that it further amplified Riolu's power, and at that moment, two events occurred simultaneously.

Riolu began to glow a pure white as Kyogre looked on at its small figure in anger. Preparing to retaliate, the whale's mouth began to glow with golden energy, but just as the Hyperbeam was about to launch, it was distracted by a yellow-colored bird of tremendous size, circling the air above him.

Through the now-clear fog, May imagined that voice in her head again…this time it only said two words.

'_Well Done.'_

- - - - - - - - - -

Afterword:

Couldn't resist, there has to be a DEM at some point right? ;)

We're now in endgame…I think one more chapter and a series interlude should wrap up Destiny Bond I.

The answers…well I'm not sure, but I hope to put them in the beginning of DB II – sorry for the wait!


	19. Destination Sunnyshore

A/N: Here it is – the last chapter!  
(Posted in anticipation of tomorrow's episode.)

Oh and one more thing, I'll refer to the legendary birds as 'she'.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Chapter Nineteen: Destination Sunnyshore

- - - - - - - - - - -

**0500 Hours, May 24****th**

Stark Mountain – Heatran's abode, is located on a large island, northeast of the Sinnoh continent. In actual fact, it is the island which has been built around the Volcano – perhaps billions of years ago when the world was in its infancy, or perhaps by an unknown catalyst – and Stark Mountain had, for a considerably long time, maintained the stability of Sinnoh's climacteric patterns.

However, as with all things, the flow of time ultimately exhausted the supply of fresh magma, and the volcano became dormant. Sinnoh legend tells us that it is because of this purpose; Heatran decided to move in – or maybe, he was _ordered_ to move in – and actively take over the Volcano's functioning. Whatever did happen, the fact remained that Heatran had become the guardian of Sinnoh's climatic patterns. The freezing winds that blew from the North Pole were uniformly warmed up by the distributed volcanic heat. Not that this heat was naturally volcanic anymore – Heatran seemed to spend most of it's time digging up underneath exhausted magma, searching for new sources to heat up the volcano.

All said and done, it was now a universal fact that Heatran was vital for evening out Sinnoh's climate, yet ironically, it was because of his own tunnel system that Heatran managed to emerge on the mainland. By doing so, he disrupted the climate which he himself had labored to stabilize.

'_Everything's going to go back to normal.' _Bliss thought, mentally sighing. Ash's Pokeball was clutched tightly in her right hand while her left held on to Dragonite's smooth exterior. Shaking off her thoughts, she looked at the fast-approaching crater – the crater of Stark Mountain. Intimidating in size, the mountain looked relatively peaceful as dawn's first light streaked upon its ash-coated cone.  
_'Oh great,' _Bliss thought, as Dragonite dropped into a shallow dive, '_another bad pun.' _

With a swift and elegant motion, the orange-cream Pokémon skillfully entered the cone of the volcano. Spotting a suitable location to land, Dragonite thrust its arms forward and landed with a soft _thump _on the black, loose soil. After giving Dragonite a quick pat, Bliss jumped off, feeling the soil through her shoes. She didn't mind flying, as long as it wasn't for an excruciatingly long time.

Looking around, she spotted a safe place to set Heatran free – a comfortable-looking rock formation which seemed like an ideal place for the giant turtle. But, it wasn't time to release him yet – there was something she needed to check first. Taking out her PDA, she switched it on and was relieved that it was still functional, and connected to the Pokeball registration servers. The open crater was to be thanked for that; it allowed a weak signal to pass through from the top.  
Scrolling down, she found the radar function and activated it. A few seconds later, she scanned the results.

Apparently, the occasional mountain rockslide had blocked Heatran's long tunnel to the Sinnoh mainland. She was quite sure that the Legendary Turtle wouldn't attempt to dig another such tunnel as long as Kyogre didn't invite him for a battle; and she was sure that Ash, May and Dawn would be able to make sure of that.

Nodding to herself, she quickly accessed the release feature on her PDA, went down to Ash's database and set a release order for Heatran. Holding out the Pokeball in front of her, a blue beam of energy flowed out of it, molding itself into the giant figure of Heatran. Not wanting to the momentarily confused turtle to think that she was infringing on its territory, Bliss quickly made her way back to Dragonite.

Hopping on, she whispered a word in its ear, and they took off; heading south, in the vibrant colors of the early morning sky.

- - -

**The Indigo Plateau  
Kanto**

'Had another sleepless night, Meir? Don't worry I'm sure Bliss had one too.' said a soft, yet mocking voice as EVIERC's automatic doors opened and then closed. Meir looked up, his eyes scanning the source of the noise; his lips contracted themselves into a wry smile as they found it, recognizing the subtle double meaning in that statement.

'What brings you to Kanto, "Your Majesty_"_?' he retorted, nonetheless giving the newcomer a pat on the back as he got up. Casually, Cynthia pointed to EVIERC's main display. The screen was accurately portraying the situation – three figures (Ash, May and Dawn in color code) stood on the Sinnoh shoreline near a much larger figure which had just stopped moving. Naturally, this was Kyogre.  
Superimposed on top of the leviathan, the aural signature of another Legendary Pokémon was displayed. Two more such patterns were approaching that very location from the south.

'Those three are like magnets aren't they?' Cynthia said shaking her head, 'or was it _you _who sent the birds?'

Meir shrugged and slumped back into his chair. 'I only asked Zapdos, the other two just followed her…somehow.'

The Sinnoh Champion didn't answer, but continued looking at the screen for a while. Meir didn't interrupt as he himself was preoccupied with his thoughts. Finally, he spoke up.

'By the way, Bliss's signal was lost somewhere along the northeastern edge of the screen,' Meir said, drawing an imaginary line, 'so she's probably taking Heatran back to Stark Mountain.'  
'If I know Bliss, she's probably left the kids to do the job.' Cynthia remarked. 'You know, her "learning by doing" ideals and everything.' Meir thought this out for a moment, and then nodded. Quite suddenly, he jumped off his chair again.

'She'll probably go to Sunnyshore and call me from there.' Meir said. 'I should get going then, you know how phones don't work in EVIERC.' He took a glance at the screen, and started walking towards the door.

'Hold on.' Meir turned around.  
'Won't Sunnyshore be blacked-out? I don't think the storm let any sunlight through you know.' Cynthia said, frowning slightly.

Meir only laughed. 'Sunnyshore's _my _hometown, remember? That used to happen a couple of years ago but they've installed fuel-cell backups now – sure it cost a hell lot – but it was good for the economy and their electrochemical potential is–'

'Meir,' Cynthia interjected – she was only _too_ used to his behavior when he lost a night's sleep or when he was denied a part in the action, but fortunately, she also knew how to deal with it. 'I get the point. I'll watch over EVIERC for a while, and you should probably wait for our dear Bliss's call.'

'Right.' Meir replied, immediately regaining his focus. He took several quick steps towards the door, but halted at the exit.  
'You've got a story to tell me too.' He said. Cynthia nodded, but didn't reply. 'I'll get back to you in a while, for now, just make sure those kids are safe.'

As the door closed, Cynthia was left alone at EVIERC. Keeping a steady gaze on the screen, she wondered, not for the last time, how Meir was able to multitask nearly to the point of perfection, and still defeat her in a Pokémon battle so effortlessly. Being the one person who understood the world champion possibly even better Bliss did, all she could say for sure was that the answer wouldn't dawn on her anytime soon.

- - -

**Valor Lakefront  
Sinnoh**

The magnificent form of a yellow bird swept down swiftly, fine-tuning it's course so that it gained a hover position directly above Kyogre. The trio gathered there looked up at Zapdos with astonishment – surely there were too many Legendary Pokémon gathered here to be a coincidence! The electric bird looped over Kyogre in large circles, attempting to confuse him. But, Kyogre was already confused. He was still trying to work out what had so suddenly interrupted him while he was creating a whirlpool; the answer lay in front of him, on the beach. However, before he was able to react, Zapdos came into the scene.

Over at the beach, Ash, May, Dawn along with the Pokémon were still gasping at the sight. However, Ash was concerned about something else – Riolu was nowhere to be found.

'_The water must be making it difficult to see him.' _He reasoned, trying to convince himself, '_He'll be alright.'_

He turned to Dawn who was kneeling on the sand, tending to the two electric rodents, who were weak with exhaustion – they had used up all of their stored electricity in trying to subdue Kyogre, but all they had been able to do was break up the whirlpool. Still, with Zapdos nearby, there was hope…

'Ash,' came May's voice, interrupting him, 'Do you think I should let Manaphy use heart swap now?'

'Just wait May, _wait.' _Ash replied, refocusing his sights on the spectacle before him. Why did he say that? He couldn't tell, but the answer came quickly enough.

A shrill shriek resonated through the air, and the sand on the beach vibrated due to the intensity of the sound. Yet, it seemed to be largely ultrasonic, for beyond the range of human and even Pokémon ears.  
Zapdos brimmed with energy; energy that was visible as a shimmering golden shield around her avian figure. This undiluted electricity acted like a lightning rod, and, in a flash, struck Kyogre's body with legendary force.

Unlike the slow, torturous current that flowed from Team Rocket's net, this one was pure and totally direct in nature – it didn't hurt Kyogre. The current was so overwhelmingly intense that it could fry a human being easily, but on Kyogre - a creature of gigantic proportions - it had a more desirable effect; and knocked him completely unconscious. As a side effect, two slim bands of excess electricity flowed to Pikachu and Pachirisu – and the rodents willingly accepted it, recharging their organic capacitors with it.

Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, Ash gave May an informative nod. Very gently, May knelt beside the sea-blue Pokémon and asked, 'Manaphy, can you use Heart Swap on Kyogre?'

The blue Pokémon nodded and lifted its twin organic antennas. A pale red light began to emanate from their tips, rippling its way across to the great whale, which lay unconscious. Accompanying it, Manaphy sang, creating a melodious but sober sound which seemed to fill the entire landscape. In the red haze of the attack, there grew a steadily increasing blue sphere of light somewhere between Manaphy and Kyogre. As the vibrations of the Heart Swap approached Kyogre's body, the blue sphere was unleashed, slowly travelling towards the whale. The whole spectacle seemed completely ethereal – it was as if a blue pearl drifted slowly on a red sea.

The dual force encircled its target – the red haze began concentrating around the unconscious leviathan, giving it's dark blue coat an eerie glow. At that moment, the figure which had produced the blue pearl-like ball became visible; A dynamic fox, blue and black in color, with upward-drafting ears and a pair of black sensors extruding it's compact facial structure.

Clearly, Riolu had undergone the remarkable phenomenon of Pokémon evolution – the process of rapid anatomical change that was shrouded in mystery.

'It looks like Riolu evolved Ash!' Dawn said, her mouth open at the dual spectacle which lay before them. Ash barely managed a nod, his ears entranced by Manaphy's soft melody. A rummage of light encircled Kyogre, who stirred from his sleep. The light began to fade, and before they knew it, dimmed to nothingness. Kyogre merely gave a glance at the beach, and proceeded down the ocean, flapping it's giant fins and disappearing. Looking down at its descending figure, Zapdos glided over to the beach, landing gently on the sand.

It seems that Kyogre had finally understood. Waves of emotions made it certain to the trio that he wouldn't harm them, Heatran and Sinnoh again in a very, very long time.

'Hey guys!' The trio turned around to locate the source of the sound, and it turned out to be Brock. The Breeder waves his arms at them, and soon managed to join them. He glanced at Zapdos as though he was expecting her. Turning to his friend, he gave them a congratulatory smile.

'Nice work. I just got a message from Bliss that we're supposed to, err…' He broke off, hesitating. He looked at the Legendary Bird which was perched – unmoving – just a meter away, and decided to continue.

'We're supposed to get to Sunnyshore on _her_.' He said, motioning towards the Legendary Bird. Predictable gasps of shock came out from Ash, May and Dawn, but Brock quickly silenced them by pointing to the sky.  
Looking up, two more birds were clearly visible. Unmistakably, one of them burned with a furious intensity, the other had the radiance of sparkling ice. One shouldn't confuse this trio of Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres to be the same as that residing near Shamouti Island. After all, this particular trio is a mere offshoot of the original one – not possessing so much power, but Legendary in status nonetheless.

Bewildered, it was a while before the excitement settled down and they cautiously mounted the three birds – who were waiting for them to do so, unmoving. Brock took Zapdos and Dawn Articuno. Before Ash and May proceeded towards Moltres, however, he examined his new Lucario.  
As can be expected, Lucario turned out to be just the right size and shape, possessing the Aura abilities his species is famous for. The blue fox was still unable to communicate telepathically, however, and at first glance, still appeared to be a child.

'I'm sure Bliss will know how to train him Ash.' May said, reassuring him.

'Yeah Ash, there's no need to worry.' Dawn said, delightedly scratching Articuno's beautiful back.

Ash shrugged, and recalled his Lucario into his Pokeball; still a little worried. Shaking that away, he strode over to Moltres cautiously heaved himself on.

Moltres's flame didn't burn him the slightest. Instead, he felt a strange yet comforting tickling sensation, as though Moltres had inverted the normal laws of Thermodynamics. Satisfied, he lifted May up too, and Pikachu jumped up to his shoulder. However, Manaphy didn't budge – he remained where he was holding up a sad expression. Immediately, May seemed to understand. She quietly got off Moltres and gave the sea blue Pokémon a quiet hug.

'I'm sure we'll meet again.' she said, sounding quite sure that her statement was true. Ash could almost feel that burning sadness inside her, but still there was a sense of satisfaction. Manaphy nodded, leaping out of May's arms and into the blue ocean. The quartet watched him go for a while, leaping in and out of the water until the prince of the sea faded away into the rising Sun.

Remounting Moltres, the foursome and Pikachu took off on their supersonic journey towards Sunnyshore. This time, as May clenched onto Ash's waist, they both felt sure that something between them had changed, and would change further as the sands of time brought about both creation and destruction…

- - -

**Sunnyshore City**

Bliss was lucky that the Pokémon center was relatively empty. The quiet atmosphere allowed her to calm her nerves, and more importantly, she didn't have to deal with inquisitive fans. She didn't really like being famous (which was an unavoidable side effect of her position), although it did have its rewards at times.

She smiled at Meir's image on the videophone. He was mentally summarizing everything she had told him, although his eyes were dropping slightly as he did so.  
A moment later, he said, 'Well I wish Ash good luck for tomorrow's Gym Battle; but I'll meet them at the Sinnoh League after a week anyway.'

'They're right here.' Bliss said smiling, turning the videophone camera towards the center couch. Ash, May and Dawn lay there in an unusual yet adorable position. May was in the center, her head rested on Ash's while one hand clutched his. Dawn lay on the other side, her head rested on the sofa's comfortable exterior. All three of them were fast asleep.

Meir chuckled. 'They'll do fine, but just watching them is making me sleepy too.' Bliss gave a nod as if to say "Me too".

'Goodnight then. I've something interesting to show you when you return.' Meir finished.

Bliss gave one last tired smile.

'Goodnight.'

- - -

There's the Series Interlude left, but this chapter wraps up the main Plot of Destiny Bond I: Aura Sphere.

Just to clarify, Lucario did have a slightly premature evolution. This will be a small subplot in DBII, so just keep it in mind.

I'll post my final thoughts after the Interlude. Thanks for reading!


	20. Epilogue

- - - - - - - - - -

Interlude I: Tomorrow

- - - - - - - - - -

RANGERNET, MAY 31st – 2050

_AURA DETECTION SYSTEM_

_#B-2050-L-02_

**Final Report: **Kyogre threat averted successfully.

Finalizing…Complete

Record Concluded

- - -

**June 7****th**

A lot seemed to have happened within the past two weeks. Life hadn't slowed back to normal at all – in any sense of the word – for our group and particularly, for Ash. After collapsing in Sunnyshore Pokemon Center two weeks before, the next day was packed with a memorable gym battle, with his newly evolved Lucario and Grotle battling out Volker in a double battle, snatching away the eighth and final gym badge.

Never before had he won his last badge just a whisker of time before the League – for the Sinnoh Conference was scheduled to begin just a week after the quartet reached Sunnyshore. Adding to this was a queer coincidence that May 31st also happened to be May's birthday – delighting the young coordinator who got to celebrate the occasion by her endeavors in the League's fine cuisine on the opening day. All said and done, it was also true that the "unbreakable bonds" which Bliss had told them about were holding true to her description – every second spent together only seemed to deepen the sense of connection which Ash, May and Dawn mutually felt. The only thing that did seem different was the nature of this connection – both Ash and May recognized that theirs was more delicate and sparked stronger emotions, and had confided this fact to each other on May's birthday.

However, the two, through unspoken consent, promised not to "make an issue" before they got to know more about what was going on here. Bliss had gone back to Kanto after witnessing Ash's gym battle, but had promised to meet them at the Johto Grand Festival – which would be starting just ten days after the Sinnoh Conference ended.

Because of this, the quartet didn't really have time to unwind or chat over the days that followed the Kyogre fiasco (or formally, #B-02-L-2050); May and Ash were bent on winning their respective championships, with Brock and Dawn intent to help them train. There was a really positive side-effect which was caused due to these events happening so close to each other – the tempo of battle didn't slow down, and this was the best training a trainer could ask for before the League.

And the result had proven it. For today, June 7th, the finals of the Sinnoh League had taken place at the legendary Space-Time arena; the stadium where the toughest competition in the Eastern Hemisphere was held every year – from the Sinnoh Conference to the Champion's Tournament. The arena was designed with ancient-medieval architecture; a perfect rectangle in the ratio 1:1.618. A row of giant diamond-like structures adorned the northern length, with pearl-like orbs mirroring their locations at the southern length.

The innumerable spectators roared with excitement as Meir Aurora and Professor Goodshow handed over a gold plated cup to this year's Sinnoh League champion, the fifteen year-old Ash Ketchum. While Ash and his friends rejoiced in victory, Meir and the Professor simply exchanged two meaningful glances. The time had come to ask the inner council permission to reveal something to the new champion and his friends – all of them fully deserved it.

'_Wait Meir, just wait.'_ He told himself mentally. Only two weeks remained until the Johto Grand Festival came to a close, and he knew he would feel very guilty if the information distracted May from it. Until then, the council had to be convinced – it would be easy enough. Unfazed by the roar of the crowd, he couldn't help but distract himself from Ash's jubilant smile. Looking around at the majestic structure of the Space-Time arena, he struggled, once again, to understand its significance.

**Pokemon Council,  
The Indigo Plateau**

'Point of information?' Meir asked, raising his hand.

'Yes, WC?'

Meir took a moment to redeem his composure. He looked around at the twenty members of the Inner Council; some of the few individuals who had taken part in the Rangernet project. He addressed the Council Chair – the elected head of the Global Forum, a stout yet decisive man who served as the current head of the Pokemon Council.

'In the light of recent events which I gather the Council is aware of,' Meir said, addressing the others. They already knew what was coming, but this had to be done for the sake of formality. 'I would like to propose that four individuals be instructed on the fundamentals of Aura.'

'And those individuals are?'

'May Crestora from Petalburg in Hoenn, Dawn Kamiya from Twinleaf in Sinnoh, Brock Takeshi from Pewter in Kanto and Ash Ketchum from Pallet in Kanto.'

'You are aware that the nature of Aura, as stated by yourself, is highly controversial and is yet under extensive research?'

Meir's arm twitched slightly. 'Yes, but I'm certain that they need to know whatever we do about it. I am also certain that these individuals are responsible enough not to misuse the information.'

'Any objections?' asked the Chairman, looking around at the various members of the council. There was no objection.

Meir nodded. 'I move for approval of Operation Firebird.'

'All those in favor?' asked the Chairman. Every single hand rose up, and stayed there. Luckily for Meir, most members of the inner council really trusted him for the simple fact that hardly any of them understood Aura as well as he did. Bliss, Lance and Cynthia smiled slightly as Meir looked around the council hall.

'This motion unanimously passes.'

However, Meir didn't sit down yet. He had one more question to ask and nothing to lose by asking it. It was his non-secretive self which demanded that he ask the question.

'In the event that Operation Firebird succeeds, I request a reserved time slot for debating the declassification of Aura Technology.'

The Chairman, raised his eyebrows, and many other members gasped. However, the Chairman simply acknowledged, 'Timeslot reserved.'

And so, we come to another page, another story and another monumental undertaking in the history of the Pokemon World.

* * *

Right then, we're all done! The Politics of the Pokemon World (yes, I've thought about that too) isn't all that important right now, so don't worry about. Also, I really felt that Ash deserved to win this League, so he did. That's it for this epilogue's comments.

At long last, we come to the conclusion of the Pilot first story – Destiny Bond: Aura Sphere. I'm kind of surprised how current events in the anime itself have made two of my "predictions" come true, except maybe in reverse. After all, May does meet them near Pastoria – and the Valor Lakefront is at the center of the action. Even the Snowpoint City part came to be, although in reverse (May was in Snowpoint instead of the other three).

Anyhow, we move on to DBII: Sacred Fire. I hope to put most of the answers to this fic in the first few chapters, but as you'll be able to predict, new questions will pop up.  
As for myself, I'm not satisfied in the shipping aspect of the story, and I'll really try to improve on that in the sequel. Also, I'm going to be moving (from one house to another that is) in about two days, so I won't be able to write for a bit (say a week). See you soon, and thanks to everyone who has been reading!


End file.
